Mike Lindell appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night, only this appearance was a bit different from what those who have seen him on Fox News or Steve Bannon’s War Room might have expected. Instead of appearing next to Kimmel or Zooming in from an office, Mike was instead in a claw machine for the interview. Watch that here:
Great sport @RealMikeLindell joins Jimmy Kimmel Live from inside a claw machine. pic.twitter.com/I4oP6Dg47t
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) February 1, 2023
Lindell had hinted that the interview would be a wild one earlier in the day, tweeting “I am going on Jimmy Kimmel tonight! I know I will be attacked but we have to get rid of the voting machines and I am willing to be humiliated to help get the word out and save our country!”
Commenting on that tweet, many people cheered and encouraged Mike, saying things like:
“Thank you Mike! You will do great! Keep fighting!”
“Your courage has no bounds. Kimmel has no class whatsoever. There is a reason why Gutfeld has been decimating Colbert and Kimmel in the ratings. The Left does not get it.”
And indeed Kimmel did try to humiliate Mike, with Mike doing the interview from inside a claw machine. Kimmel, explaining why he had Mike do the interview from inside the claw machine, said that it was “To help him overcome his debilitating fear of machines, we have installed him inside a claw machine.”
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Kimmel also made numerous quips about machines and Mike during the interview, saying things like:
“You know, one of the differences between you and the claw machine is claw machines let go. And you will not let go of this voting thing, will you?”
“Mike, I know that you’re distrustful of machines. Now that you’re inside one, do you feel differently?”
Kimmel also joked, during his opening monologue, that Lindell was there “to finally answer the question: ‘What if Ted Lasso was on the F.B.I. watch list?’”
Kimmel later gave more details on the claw machine aspect of the interview, saying “I do want to make something clear. I did not insist that Mike be in a claw machine because he’s not vaccinated; I insisted he be in a claw machine because it’s hilarious. This isn’t a political statement — this is just for fun.”
Mike, for his part, played along and made some jokes too, saying, for example, “Maybe I’ll find out that that claw game was rigged, huh, the one that picks up the stuffed animals.”
He also suggested that he was in the claw machine because he is unvaccinated, saying on a Facebook live stream that “A lot of you have reached out to me: ‘Mike, don’t do it, he’s going to attack you. Why did you agree to go inside a claw game?’ Which I did, because they, you can’t go inside the studio if you’re not vaccinated. And of course, I’m not vaccinated.”
It was to that that Kimmel responded by saying the claw machine was meant to be funny, not a political statement or about vaccination status.
By: Will Tanner. Follow me on Twitter @Will_Tanner_1