Anthony Anderson closed out his week of guest hosting ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday by doing his best Kimmel impersonation when talking about the situation with the Strait of Hormuz. According to Anderson, it is difficult to know who to believe, “The authoritarian psychopaths or the Iranians?”
After coming off a bit about advice for the Powerball jackpot winner, Anderson turned to Hormuz, “Speaking of greedy mother[bleep], Donald Trump—yesterday, yesterday he went on Truth Social and said the U.S. ‘has total control over the Strait of Hormuz.’ Well, it turns out that may not be true. Because today Iran said the Strait of Hormuz is actually under their control, and ‘the baseless claims made by the United States are nothing more than lies and falsehoods.’”
Jimmy Kimmel guest host Anthony Anderson claims to not know who to believe on the Strait of Hormuz situation "The authoritarian psychopaths or the Iranians?" pic.twitter.com/gEV5QLO4ND
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) August 14, 2026
Anderson then got to what was supposed to be his punchline, “Now, at this point, I don't know who to believe. The authoritarian psychopaths or the Iranians?”
This was not the first time Jimmy Kimmel Live! tried to pull a reverse joke that portrays the Iranian regime as the normal one juxtaposed to the supposedly authoritarian Trump. Back on April 8, in a joke that landed so flat, his own liberal audience struggled to laugh at it, Kimmel retorted, “How is this negotiation even going to work? This is a government of religious fanatics who don't believe in democracy, and they use domestic security forces to terrorize their own citizens. And now we expect Iran to negotiate with them? I—never mind.”
Whatever one thinks of the war or the way it has been fought, the Iranian regime is the one run by authoritarian psychopaths. It has the blood of thousands of its own people on its hands. That was true before the war, during the war, and it will be true after the war.
Here is a transcript for the August 13 show:
ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live!
8/13/2026
11:39 PM ET
ANTHONY ANDERSON: Speaking of greedy mother[bleep], Donald Trump—yesterday, yesterday he went on Truth Social and said the U.S. “has total control over the Strait of Hormuz.” Well, it turns out that may not be true. Because today Iran said the Strait of Hormuz is actually under their control, and “the baseless claims made by the United States are nothing more than lies and falsehoods.” Now, at this point, I don't know who to believe. The authoritarian psychopaths or the Iranians?
