That escalated quickly. After exchanging a series of Twitter barbs with Roy Moore on Thursday afternoon, late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel offered to fight the U.S. Senate candidate in his monologue last night.
“Maybe when you say, ‘Come down to Alabama and we’ll do it man to man,’ that means you’re challenging me to a fight, which is kind of what it sounds like. And if you are, I accept, by the way. I accept that invitation,” Kimmel said during his Thursday night monologue on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live. “There is no one I would love to fight more than you. I will put my Christian values aside, just for you and for that fight.
The comment came at the end of a day in which the comedian and Moore, a former state judge who is running for one of Alabama’s U.S. Senate seats, feuded on Twitter with Moore claiming that Kimmel aimed to “mock our Christian values” by filming a comedy bit for the show at a Moore rally that took place in a church. Moore has been a frequent target of Kimmel’s jokes of late, as the Republican senatorial candidate faces an ongoing scandal over accusations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls as young as 14.
Sounds great Roy – let me know when you get some Christian values and I’ll be there!
— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) November 30, 2017
On his TV show, Kimmel (who noted that his middle name is actually “Christian”) reminded Moore that the comedian is a Christian himself and then offered some thoughts on what he’s learned from his own church experience. “If you’re open to it, when we sit down, I will share with you what I learned at my church. At my church, forcing yourself on underaged girls is a no-no. Some even consider it to be a sin,” Kimmel said during the show.
Earlier in the day, on Twitter, Moore had promised to reserve “a seat on the front pew” in his church for Kimmel, despite what the former judge described as “D.C. And Hollywood elites’ bigotry toward southerners.”
If Roy Moore @MooreSenate actually wants to fight, meet me at the Gadsden Mall – 1001 Rainbow Drive. I'll be the one in the Girl Scout uniform… pic.twitter.com/mq053SiekV
— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) December 1, 2017
With regard to the proposed “fight,” Kimmel even suggested that he and Moore charge admission and then donate any proceeds to a charity chosen by the winner. “My charity will be the women who came forward to say you molested them,” Kimmel said in his monologue, referencing the allegations against the former Alabama state judge.
