Jelly Roll Sends a Message to Trump Supporters
Jelly Roll used his second night behind the desk at “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to answer fans who were angry about his jokes targeting President Donald Trump. His message to anyone threatening to quit listening was straightforward: go ahead.
The country singer, whose real name is Jason DeFord, was filling in for Jimmy Kimmel this week when his first monologue quickly landed him in a fight with part of his own audience.
On Monday, Jelly Roll joked about Trump’s weight while discussing his own dramatic weight loss. After losing roughly 300 pounds, the singer said he had “lost an entire Donald Trump,” before adding that “most of the country wants to do the same thing,” according to Fox News.
The routine went further. Jelly Roll referred to himself and Trump as “fat pig[s]” and followed it with a vulgar joke about fitness.
That did not sit well with some Trump-supporting country fans. Online criticism followed, with some listeners accusing Jelly Roll of selling out and announcing that they were finished listening to his music.
By Tuesday night, Jelly Roll had heard the complaints. Instead of backing away from the material, he addressed it directly.
“Some folks online were upset that I didn’t treat the president with reverence and dignity,” he said. “But I want to remind y’all that I go by the name Jelly Roll.”
He also defended the setting and the nature of the job.
He was hosting “a damn late-night show,” he said.
“That’s where you talk about the news and you make jokes.”
Then came his answer for fans threatening a boycott.
“For those who threatened to stop listening to my music based on my comments last night, I just want to say with conviction: go right ahead,” Jelly Roll said.
That response raises the stakes because Jelly Roll’s career has been built around an audience that did not discover him through Hollywood television.
His music has leaned heavily into redemption, faith, addiction, failure and working-class struggle. Songs such as “Need a Favor” and “Son of a Sinner” connected with country listeners, including plenty of Christians and conservative fans. Those listeners helped turn a performer with an unconventional path into a major country act capable of filling arenas.
Now some of those same listeners are being told that if the jokes bother them enough to leave, they should leave.
Jelly Roll is certainly free to make that choice. A musician does not owe his audience a particular political position, and fans do not owe a musician their streams, ticket purchases or loyalty.
But his defense that this is simply what happens on late-night television is likely to be less persuasive to the people already angry with him.