President Donald Trump has threatened to sue Trevor Noah (The Daily Show, Black Panther) over his comments surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein controversy during the Grammy’s telecast. Trump took to Truth Social to air his grievances about the award show and refute his claims that he had been on Jeffrey Epstein’s island with Bill Clinton.
Noah made jokes about Trump’s desire to take Greenland before the Song Of The Year Award was announced. “Song of the Year — that is a Grammy that every artist wants almost as much as Trump wants Greenland, which makes sense because Epstein’s island is gone, he needs a new one to hang out with Bill Clinton,” via Forbes.
According to Forbes, Trump and Epstein reportedly cut ties in the mid 2000s. Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort has stated that Epstein has been banned since 2007 after Trump had discovered Epstein was stealing from “people who worked for me.” Last year, Trump responded to his presence on the island, “I never had the privilege of going to his island, and I did turn it down…In one of my very good moments, I turned it down.”
This is Trump’s latest bout in multiple rounds with comedians and late-night hosts. According to mxdwn, Stephen Colbert’s (The Colbert Report, The Daily Show) The Late Show was cancelled in 2025. The network has repeatedly stated it was due to financial reasons. Some have noted that Colbert was a frequent critic of Trump, and the cancellation coincided with a period when CBS needed the president’s approval for a merger with Skydance.
Mxdwn has reported that Jimmy Kimmel (Jimmy Kimmel Live1, Crank Yankers) was suspended after comments made about of right wing political commentator Charlie Kirk. FCC chairman Brendan Carr threatened to pull ABC’s license after the remarks. Disney, ABC’s parent company. eventually reinstated Kimmel after fans began to cancel their subscriptions to Disney+.
Whether Trump’s threats have any legal merit is yet to be determined. Comedy is generally well protected from civil prosecution. A case would likely hinge on whether a reasonable person could determine whether the comments were satire.