Jimmy Kimmel mocks grandstanding senators grilling social media CEOs
Jimmy Kimmel poked fun at the senators who grilled social media CEOs at a recent committee hearing, saying they were “out of their element.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee interrogated five big social media CEOs on Wednesday in what Mr Kimmel described as the senators’ chance to drag them ”into their chambers and yell at them on C-Span.”
The hearing was a chance for the social media giants to testify to the committee on the abuse of children on their platforms.
However, the host pointed out on Jimmy Kimmel Live that many of the senators doing the grilling seemed to be out of their depth when talking to the tech leaders.
“Most of these senators are so old they don’t know how to work their garage door openers,” the late show host said.
He started off with a bizarre clip of Louisana Senator John Kennedy “pontificating about Snapchat” with their CEO Evan Spiegel.
“I see you hiding down there,” Mr Kennedy said to the CEO, followed by an awkward pause.
“What does yadda yadda yadda mean?” the senator asks, to which Mr Speigel replied, “I’m not familiar with the term senator.”
“Very uncool,” Mr Kennedy responded, shaking his head with a disappointed smile.
“And that is a dude who knows cool,” Mr Kimmel said in reaction to the bewildering moment.
The host also turned his attention to Senator Ted Cruz, who at one point accidentally said the word “TicTac” and then corrected himself to “TikTok,” when speaking about the video social media app.
“Just to be clear, TikTok is a social media app; TicTac is what the guy sitting next to your fish breath keeps begging you to chew,” Mr Kimmel said.
The senators were not the only ones that did not escape Mr Kimmel’s attention.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, at one point in the hearing, stood up at turned to the audience to apologise to the families of children who had been abused.
“I’m sorry for everything you’ve all gone through,” he said. “Nobody should have to go through what your families have suffered. This is why we have invested so much and are going to continue industry-leading efforts to make sure that no one has to go through the types of things your families have suffered.”
“Now, can I go back to windsurfing at my Macadamia farm?” Mr Kimmel mocked, adding that was the level of sincerity you can usually only get on ChatGPT, the AI website.