Jimmy Kimmel's latest joke about telling Trump supporters to "vote late" is sparking backlash, with critics pointing to the double standard that sent one man to prison for a similar "joke."
Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel stirred up fresh controversy this week when he jokingly encouraged Trump supporters to "vote late"—specifically after Election Day. The comment, aired on publicly funded networks, immediately sparked debate about the double standard around election misinformation.
Kimmel's joke echoes the case of Douglass Mackey, a social media influencer sentenced to seven months in prison for spreading disinformation about voting methods in 2016. Mackey, known online as “Ricky Vaughn,” was convicted in 2023 for tweets suggesting Hillary Clinton supporters could “vote” via text, a method that would invalidate their vote. Though Mackey claimed his posts were satire, the Biden administration pursued prosecution under federal election laws.
Kimmel, who attracts a much larger audience, drew online criticism for his comments. Despite clear parallels, the talk show host faces no legal consequences, highlighting an apparent inconsistency in how election-related jokes are treated depending on the speaker’s profile and politics.
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