During his Monday night broadcast of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, Jimmy Kimmel harshly criticized Donald Trump for claiming that Rob Reiner’s death was a result of “Trump derangement syndrome” and the anger he supposedly directed at others.
“In a moment like this, what we require—aside from sanity regarding mental health and gun control—is leadership and empathy. Our president offered neither, giving us only the ramblings of a fool,” Kimmel stated. “Instead of support for Rob and Michele Reiner, we received this post.”
Kimmel proceeded to read Trump’s Monday morning message on Truth Social: “A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood. Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS.”
The post continued, “He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before. May Rob and Michele rest in peace!”
“It is just so vile and hateful,” Kimmel remarked. “I initially thought it was a fake when my wife showed it to me. I thought, ‘Even for him, that is too much.’ But for him, nothing is ever too much.”
The host then shifted focus to a press conference in the Oval Office, noting that Trump had a clear opportunity to “act like a human being” and retract his statement about Reiner. Instead, the president stood firmly by his comments.
“I wasn’t a fan of his at all,” Trump told the press on Monday. “He was a deranged person as far as Trump is concerned. He knew it was false. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. He said I was a friend of Russia, controlled by Russia. You know, the Russia hoax. He was one of the people behind it. I think he hurt himself career-wise. He became like a deranged person. Trump derangement syndrome. So, I was not a fan of Rob Reiner at all, in any way, shape or form. I thought he was very bad for our country.”
“That corroded brain is in charge of our lives,” Kimmel responded. “If you voted for that, it is okay to reconsider. It is perfectly fine. I know from my personal friendship with Rob Reiner that he would want us to keep highlighting the loathsome atrocities that ooze out of this irresponsible, sick man’s mouth. So we will do that, over and over, until the rest of us wake up.”
Kimmel was not the only late-night personality to address the tragedy. Stephen Colbert began his Monday show with a solemn introduction, acknowledging Reiner’s passing as well as the recent violence at Brown University and Bondi Beach.
“Hello, everybody,” a serious Colbert said from his desk. “Normally, we start the show with a short cold open about a major news story of the day. But after the terrible news this past weekend, the horrifying Hanukkah massacre at Bondi Beach, the tragic shootings at Brown University and the heartbreaking deaths of Rob and Michele Reiner, all of the major stories are too dark for that. Other people’s tragedy is sacred ground, and we try very hard not to walk there. But we are going to do a comedy show tonight, in light of and in spite of the darkness.”
Reiner, a celebrated filmmaker who gained fame acting in “All in the Family” before directing classics such as “Stand by Me,” “When Harry Met Sally…,” “A Few Good Men,” and “This Is Spinal Tap,” was discovered stabbed to death in his Brentwood home on Sunday afternoon. His wife of 36 years, Michele Singer, was found alongside him. Reiner was 78, and Singer was 68.
According to online records from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the couple’s son, Nick Reiner, was arrested on Sunday at 9:15 p.m. and booked early Monday at 5:05 a.m. on suspicion of murdering his parents.
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell verified during a press conference on Monday morning that Nick Reiner had been “booked for murder,” describing the event as a “very, very tragic incident.”
Formal charges have yet to be filed. In a press release, the LAPD stated that investigators intend to present the case to the District Attorney for filing on Tuesday.