ABC/Randy HolmesThere are three sides to every story—and Jimmy Kimmel insists his side is the truth.
In late June, the late-night host was name dropped during a speech President Donald Trump gave at a campaign rally in South Carolina. The Commander-in-Chief took aim at several late-night hosts, including Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert before turning his attention to Kimmel with a story alleging that before Trump became president, the host waited outside for him to arrive as a gust on his show, opened the door for him and fawned over him.
"I'm telling you a true story. I don't even think he'd deny it," Trump told the crowd. "He would stand outside of the sidewalk waiting for me—here he comes Donald Trump...He opens my door. I said, 'Does he do this to everybody?' to his people. 'He does it for nobody.'"
As Kimmel explained back on his show Monday night, he was in the wilderness in Montana for the show's two-week summer break with very limited cell service and Wi-Fi when Trump gave the speech. It was only until his wife texted his satellite phone that he found out about what the president had claimed.
"I do it for nobody because that never happened," he retorted after showing a clip of Trump's comments. "For the record, not only was I not on the sidewalk waiting for him opening the door to his car—I didn't even go to his dressing room to say hello before the show."
As Kimmel went on to explain, he very rarely speaks to guests before they come onstage. "I never do it—15 years I probably. I don't know—I've done it seven times. I like to greet the guests on stage. I feel dumb saying hello to them and then saying hello again 10 minutes later, but I digress. None of that actually happened."
However, the discussion was not yet over. "Can you imagine me standing outside waiting for guests on Hollywood Boulevard?" Kimmel continued as a camera showed the busy street filled with characters and tourists just outside the studio. "Our guests don't even come in this way through the front door. They come in the back from the alley...you think the Secret Service would let the Republican nominee for president come in this way?"
Before wrapping up his monologue, the host told the audience a different version of Trump's tale.
"This is what really happened that night. Donald Trump showed up one night outside our show banging on the backstage door," he said. As Kimmel alleged, a fried chicken-toting Trump arrived screaming that he needed to use the bathroom, but it was occupied by Zach Braff. So, he put the remaining chicken in his jacket, dropped his pants and peed in the chicken bucket.
As Kimmel quipped, "That story is exactly as true as his was."