ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel claimed on Tuesday to uncover the true reason for President Donald Trump’s fight with Harvard: Harvard rejecting him back when he was a student. The only problem for Kimmel was his source was disgraced author Michael Wolff.
Kimmel began, “Trump is actively waging war against Harvard University, which seems to be one of the very few institutions with integrity right now. They are fighting back. Although, according to CNN, a lot of other colleges have begun quietly negotiating to avoid the president's wrath. I hear Brown University just changed their name to Orange to appease him.”
Moving on to Wolff, Kimmel added, “Trump right now is pushing back against a story from the best-selling author of multiple Trump tell-alls, Michael Wolff, who says the real reason he's going after Harvard is they didn't accept him when he was a student.”
For Kimmel, Trump’s denial was proof the story is true, “Trump responded, ‘Michael Wolff, a third-rate reporter who is laughed at even by the scoundrels of the fake news recently stated the only reason I'm beating up on Harvard is because I applied there and didn't get in. The story is totally false. I never applied to Harvard.’ In other words, he applied to Harvard.”
Kimmel may not want to admit it, but Trump is right. Back in 2018, even the anti-Trump media sought to distance itself from Wolff’s allegations, especially the sexist and evidence-free claim that U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley had an affair with Trump.
As for Harvard, Kimmel opined that, “Harvard is really in a terrible spot. The White House is trying to cut their funding, they're threatening to revoke visas for foreign students. This woman was one of the commencement speakers at Harvard. She graduated from the school. Pay attention to what's happening in the background while she talks because somehow, it weirdly sums everything up.”
In a clip, Yurong “Luanna” Hiang was seen declaring, “The message itself is, you know, if I had to put it into one sentence, it would be humanity rises and falls as one.”
At that precise moment, in the background, two men could be seen getting into a fistfight as she continued, “I think we are living in a very difficult time. There's a lot of divisions in terms of ideas, ethnicities, identities, and I think this is a time where we can use a little bit more moral imagination and imagine ourselves being connected—”
Kimmel reacted, “Yeah, yeah, or keep beating each other's ass until we get hit by a truck. You know, Harvard may be the most elite university in the world, but it is still in Boston, don't ever forget that.”
The irony of the video aside, Kimmel is a man who claims to rigorously fact-check his jokes before telling them on air, but if that were true, he would not have gone to bat for Michael Wolff’s credibility.
Here is a transcript for the June 3 show:
ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live!
6/3/2025
11:36 PM ET
JIMMY KIMMEL: Trump is actively waging war against Harvard University, which seems to be one of the very few institutions with integrity right now. They are fighting back. Although, according to CNN, a lot of other colleges have begun quietly negotiating to avoid the president's wrath. I hear Brown University just changed their name to Orange to appease him.
Trump right now is pushing back against a story from the best-selling author of multiple Trump tell-alls, Michael Wolff, who says the real reason he's going after Harvard is they didn't accept him when he was a student.
Trump responded, "Michael Wolff, a third-rate reporter who is laughed at even by the scoundrels of the fake news recently stated the only reason I'm beating up on Harvard is because I applied there and didn't get in. The story is totally false. I never applied to Harvard."
In other words, he applied to Harvard. Harvard is really in a terrible spot. The White House is trying to cut their funding, they're threatening to revoke visas for foreign students. This woman was one of the commencement speakers at Harvard. She graduated from the school. Pay attention to what's happening in the background while she talks because somehow, it weirdly sums everything up.
YURONG “LUANNA” HIANG: The message itself is, you know, if I had to put it into one sentence, it would be humanity rises and falls as one. I think we are living in a very difficult time. There's a lot of divisions in terms of ideas, ethnicities, identities, and I think this is a time where we can use a little bit more moral imagination and imagine ourselves being connected –
KIMMEL: Yeah, yeah, or keep beating each other's ass until we get hit by a truck. You know, Harvard may be the most elite university in the world, but it is still in Boston, don't ever forget that.