Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday ridiculed President Donald Trump for awarding Elon Musk the National Medal of Science, calling the tech mogul Trump's "owner." Kimmel featured a clip of the award presentation, quipping about the "body language" and suggesting Musk was untrustworthy with sensitive national assets.
Musk was honored alongside other tech leaders, including Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. However, Kimmel pointed to Musk's past actions, including alleged federal cuts through a "Department of Government Efficiency" and a report that Musk influenced Congress to cut $200 million in pediatric cancer research funding.
The award comes just over a year after a public dispute between Trump and Musk. The billionaire had publicly criticized Trump in relation to his association with Jeffrey Epstein. Kimmel commented on their apparent reconciliation, stating, "It is so nice when two terrible people can put their differences aside for the greater bad."
Kimmel also suggested Trump was demonstrating "growth" by awarding medals to others, given his own past controversies.