Comedian Jim Gaffigan laments Trump supporters thinking he’s attacking them: ‘They’ll never forgive me’
Superstar stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan recently addressed his previous anti-Trump social media posts in 2020, saying he regrets the supporters President-elect Donald Trump took his criticism personally.
Gaffigan, who recently played former Democratic vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., on “Saturday Night Live,” discussed his negative feelings about the old tweets in new interview with “The Daily Beast.”
“I’m sorry that people think I criticized people who support Trump. And that was never my intention. I’m sorry – someone said, now I can’t follow you anymore, and I told them ‘F you,'” he said. comedian.
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Comedian Jim Gaffigan said he was sorry Trump supporters took his old anti-Trump social media posts personally. (Rebecca Noble / Stringer | Dia Dipasupil / Staff)
Gaffigan attacked Trump in a series of tweets in 2020, when X was still on Twitter and Trump was running for re-election. In one he wrote: “Look Trumpers, I get it. I was a Cubs fan as a kid and I know you stick with your team no matter what, but he’s a traitor and a fraud who doesn’t care about you. Deep down you know that. I’m sure you like to make people angry, but you know Trump is a liar and a criminal.”
In another, he criticized Trump for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, writing: “You know Trump is just making enemies. You know you can’t trust him. You know he’s been incompetent during this crisis. You know all these people are not ” You don’t need to die. Trump talks about the Space Program, and you can’t safely go to the movies.”
Four years later, Gaffigan told the magazine he regretted the posts being picked up by some people, but insisted he didn’t regret publishing them.
“But it’s weird because I think authenticity is a really important thing, not just as a comedian, but with your kids,” he said, adding, “For me, I don’t regret it, but I also recognize that there are genuine die-hard Trump fans who probably enjoyed my comedy, but because they feel so passionately, they will never forgive me.”
Gaffigan continued, admitting that alienating people in such a way is just part of being a comedian.
“But also, something I’ve noticed in doing stand-up for so long is you’re going to lose people. You’re also going to attract people. But there’s going to be people who are like, you know, ‘I don’t have kids, I think he’s funny, but I don’t get this .'”
Asked if he felt like he lost a lot of fans after those posts, he said: “I wouldn’t say it’s measurable. But there were definitely comments on social media, and there still are. My son, who is so funny — I posted something and my 18-year-old son commented, ‘I liked him until he started talking about Trump.'”
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New York Governor Kathy Hochul and comedian Jim Gaffigan attend the Alfred E. Smith Foundation Annual Dinner at the New York Hilton Midtown on October 17, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) (Getty Images)
The editors also asked the comedian how he feels about the criticism he received for his recent performance Al Smith dinner in New York. During his performance, Gaffigan took shots at Trump, who was in attendance that night, and Vice President Kamala Harris, who declined the invitation.
He noted how he was criticized by liberals who accused him of routinely disparaging Trump.
“I ‘normalized a fascist,’ didn’t I? I knew going into it that I was going to get criticism from both sides. I’m not a stand-up comedian. I mean, I love politics, but I just don’t talk about it,” he said.
“So I knew there would be backlash if I joked either way. But I also thought it was worth it.”
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