Late-night hosts have been covering the planned summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un closely over the last few weeks, so it came as no surprise that they were on hand to comment when that meeting fell through on Thursday.
Trump had been scheduled to meet with the North Korean leader in Singapore on June 12. But following several messages from North Korea threatening an end to the talks, and a message from a North Korean official calling Vice President Mike Pence “a political dummy,” Trump sent a letter to the Kim Jong-un saying, “this missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history.”
“Dammit!” Seth Meyers said in response to the news that Trump had cancelled the summit, explaining he had bought one of the commemorative coins that the Trump Administration had produced of the two leaders facing off. “Although, it’s my fault. I should have learned my lesson after I bought commemorative coins for the border wall, biggest inauguration ever, Anthony Scaramucci’s first 100 days on the job, ‘cleared of all charges’ and People’s Sexiest Man Alive.”
Over on TBS, Conan host Conan O’Brien threw some jabs about the failed summit into his opening monologue. “This morning, President Trump cancelled his summit with Kim Jong-un, saying it’s because of Kim’s ‘open hostility.’ Trump said, ‘I will not tolerate hostility from a “fat faced little Rocket Man.”
After, he added, “President Trump — did you know this? — informed Kim Jong-un that he was cancelling their summit by sending Kim a personal letter. The disturbing part is Trump signed the letter, ‘Yours in Crazy.'”
Jimmy Kimmel opened his Live! monologue on Thursday with a reference to Trump’s pardon of boxer Jack Johnson, a move that actor Sylvester Stallone called the president to request, on Thursday. “Only Donald Trump could cancel a summit with Kim Jong Un in the morning and then have a meeting with Sylvester Stallone later in the day,” he said.
Kimmel went through the letter line-by-line, making jokes after particularly striking passages. Of the line, “if you change your mind having to do with this most important summit please do not hesitate to call me or write,” Kimmel joked, “Feels kinda like we’re at the part of the movie where the couple breaks up but then after about a month they realize they can’t live without each other and one of them has to run through airport to stop the other one from getting on a flight.”
And James Corden on CBS also made a romanting analogy as he kicked off his Late Late Show with the news. “Now this has been going on for some time. First the meeting was on, then it was off, then it was back on, and I can’t handle the tension. King Jong-un and Trump, they are the new Ross and Rachel.”
He continued, reading from Trump’s letter, “Trump cancelled the meeting with North Korea over their ‘tremendous anger and open hostility. Which is ironic because ‘tremendous anger and open hostility’ is Trump’s 2020 campaign slogan.”
This article originally appeared in THR.com.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/late-night-hosts-tackle-trump-kim-jong-uns-canceled-meeting-1114813