Appearing on Monday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, CNN host Jake Tapper falsely claimed to the eponymous ABC host that Peter Doocy’s employer in Fox News “would never come to my defense” if a president called him “a stupid son of a bitch” as President Biden did hours earlier to the Fox White House correspondent.
Tapper’s claim was not only a lie, but laughable one given the fact that Fox News repeatedly stood with CNN when the Trump administration repeatedly tried to bar them from events and even denounced Trump’s use of the term “enemy of the people.”
Doocy came up after Kimmel had asked Tapper whether his “life” has been “boring now that Donald Trump isn’t President” and the CNNer replied it hasn’t seeing as how “the current President just called a reporter a dumb son of a bitch[.]”
Kimmel then asked him if he thinks Doocy is indeed “a dumb son of a bitch,” but Tapper wouldn’t bite and instead argued he doesn’t “think any president should be calling any journalist” that and, in this case, “the question was fairly anodyne.”
A Robert Durst hot mic reference later, Kimmel observed he was “defending Peter Doocy” despite “Fox News say[ing]...you’re on Team Biden, and you are a mouthpiece for the Democrats.”
Kimmel added Doocy “is indeed a dumb son of a bitch,” which led Tapper to say he doesn’t “agree with that and I will say, like, standards for decency don't have to do with whether or not you like the people that are being treated poorly.”
The Lead and State of the Union host then leveled his mistruth: “I recognize that Peter’s channel probably would never come to my defense like that, but it is what it is.”
For the #FactsFirst network and host, here are the actual facts about Fox defending CNN. On July 25, 2018, Collins was banned from a Trump speech in the Rose Garden about tariffs. According to Collins, the administration said they “did not like the questions I posed to President Trump earlier in the day during an event in the Oval Office.”
Fox News rushed to defend Collins with the network saying in a statement that they stood “in strong solidarity with CNN for the right to full access for our journalists as part of a free and unfettered press.”
On that day’s Special Report, host Bret Baier told viewers: “As a member of the White House press pool, Fox stands firmly with CNN on this issue of access.”
Speaking of Baier, he told Kimmel just over a week later that defending her was a “no-brainer.” In January 2019, Baier stated that he was against Trump’s use of the term “enemy of the people.”
And when CNN’s Jim Acosta had his press badge revoked by the Trump White House, Fox News filed an amicus curiae brief supporting him as part of a lawsuit to have his badge restored.
But we digress.
Earlier in the show, Kimmel went after Doocy in his monologue (click “expand”):
KIMMEL: Joe Biden came back to life in a big way today. Biden was caught on a hot mic talking about Peter Doocy of Fox News. Doocy asked — he — he doesn't really ask questions. He just — he says obnoxious things. He asked Biden if inflation is a political liability ahead of the midterm elections, which of course it is and then we got to hear Biden drop a Doocy.
[CLIP]
[AUDIENCE LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE]
KIMMEL: Now, that’s — there’s old snarky malarkey. We’ve been wondering where he was. I'm surprised Doocy didn't ask Biden to weigh in on the sexiness of M&M’s. The big story, especially if you've been watching Fox News, is about M&M’s.
Tapper’s false claim and Kimmel’s drivel were made possible thanks to the support of advertisers such as Crest, Hulu, and Nissan. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant ABC transcript from January 24 and 25, click “expand.”
ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!
January 24, 2022
11:43 p.m. EasternJIMMY KIMMEL: Unfortunately for [Donald Trump Jr.], Joe Biden came back to life in a big way today. Biden was caught on a hot mic talking about Peter Doocy of Fox News. Doocy asked — he — he doesn't really ask questions. He just — he says obnoxious things. He asked Biden if inflation is a political liability ahead of the midterm elections, which of course it is and then we got to hear Biden drop a Doocy.
BIDEN: That’s a great asset.
PRESS AIDE: Thank you.
PRESS AIDE: Thank you.
BIDEN: More inflation? What a stupid son of a bitch.
[AUDIENCE LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE]
KIMMEL: Now, that’s — there’s old snarky malarkey. We’ve been wondering where he was. I'm surprised Doocy didn't ask Biden to weigh in on the sexiness of M&M’s. The big story, especially if you've been watching Fox News, is about M&M’s.
(....)
January 25, 2022
12:32 a.m. EasternJIMMY KIMMEL: Is your life boring now that Donald Trump isn’t President?
JAKE TAPPER: No, the current President just called a reporter a dumb son of a bitch today.
KIMMEL: He did and in — I know you don’t care — you usually don’t give out opinions, but that reporter, Peter Doocy, is he a dumb son of a bitch?
[AUDIENCE LAUGHTER]
TAPPER: I don't think any — I don’t think any president should be calling any journalist a dumb son of a bitch. To be fair to Peter Doocy, the question was fairly anodyne. It was just —
KIMMEL: Yeah.
TAPPER: — will inflation —
KIMMEL: He didn't technically call him a dumb son of a bitch. He was caught on microphone saying he was.
TAPPER: I mean, caught — it would be like you calling me a dumb son of a bitch right now, caught on microphone. I mean, he was standing right in front of a microphone.
[AUDIENCE LAUGHTER]
KIMMEL: Right, right. But don’t you think —
TAPPER: It wasn’t — it wasn't — it wasn’t like, you know — it wasn’t like Robert Durst —
KIMMEL: Aren’t you —
TAPPER: — confessing to murder in the bathroom forgetting his mic on. It was at a press conference.
KIMMEL: — it was like that. It was like that. You —
TAPPER: It was in the bathroom.
KIMMEL: — but wait a minute. Fox News says you are — you know, that you're on Team Biden, and you are a mouthpiece for the Democrats and yet, here you are, defending Peter Doocy, who, as far as I have been able to tell, is indeed a dumb son of a bitch.
[AUDIENCE LAUGHTER]
[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]
TAPPER: So — I — I do not agree with that and I will say, like, standards for decency don't have to do with whether or not you like the people that are being treated poorly. It just has to do with the standard. And yes, I recognize that —
[AUDIENCE LAUGHTER]
KIMMEL: Right.
TAPPER: — I recognize that Peter’s channel probably would never come to my defense like that, but it is what it is. I should also note, just in terms of breaking news, Biden did call Peter Doocy to apologize. They did have a phone conversation.
KIMMEL: Oh, he did?
TAPPER: He did.
KIMMEL: Oh, wow.
TAPPER: So — so, according to our CNN —
KIMMEL: I'm sure Trump did that, though. [LAUGHS]
[AUDIENCE LAUGHTER]
TAPPER: Yeah.
KIMMEL: You don't hear from him, do you?
TAPPER: No.
KIMMEL: Yeah.
TAPPER: He gave — he gave out maps to our homes. Yeah.
[AUDIENCE LAUGHTER]
