US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene reported Jimmy Kimmel to the US Capitol Police on Wednesday, after the late-night host made a joke about Will Smith slapping the Georgia Republican.
“ABC, this threat of violence against me by Jimmy Kimmel has been filed with the Capitol Police,” she wrote on social media on Wednesday.
During his monologue on Tuesday night, the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host made a joke about Ms Greene’s comments on the Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmation process.
Earlier in the week, the Georgia rep had hammered her fellow congressional Republicans Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, and Mitt Romney for saying they will vote for the Biden administration’s nominee, likening this to being “pro-paedophile.”
“Wow, where is Will Smith when you really need him?” Mr Kimmel said, referencing the actor’s infamous slap of Chris Rock during this year’s Oscars ceremony.
The Independent has reached out to Mr Kimmel and the Capitol Police for comment.
“Our office takes all threats of violence towards the Congresswoman very seriously,” a spokesperson for Marjorie Taylor Greene told The Independent. “Last night, Jimmy Kimmel called for violence to be committed against Congresswoman Greene. It will not be tolerated.”
Republicans have increasingly introducing anti-LGTB+ bills and branding their enemies as pro-paedophile or soft on sex crimes in the run-up to the 2022 midterms, in what many observers believe is something between a QAnon dogwhistle and a culture war callout meant to fire up the base.
Throughout Judge Jackson’s confirmation hearings, numerous Republican senators insinuated she, and by proxy the Democrats, were soft on sex criminals, because the appellate judge at times had departed from sentencing broad guidelines during sex crimes cases, decisions she defended as warranted given the individual circumstances.
During his routine, Mr Kimmel said it was in fact Ms Greene who is soft on sex crimes, noting her friendship with US Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, who is reportedly under federal investigation for alleged sex trafficking, obstructing justice, paying for sex, and having a relationship with a teen with a teen girl. The Florida Republican has not been charged with any crimes, and has denied the allegations.
“This woman is good pals with Matt Gaetz who is currently under investigation for trafficking minors for sex! It’s scum and scummer”, Mr Kimmel said.
Ms Greene has at times deployed threatening rhetoric in her own comments on the campaign trail.
In once since-deleted campaign image from 2020, she posed with an assault rifle near photos of Democratic members of Congress, all of whom are women of colour, promising “to go on the offense against these socialists who want to rip our country apart.”
