Right-wing media goes ballistic after watching Jelly Roll light MAGA support 'on fire'

Country star Jelly Roll has finally broken his silence on politics, to criticize President Donald Trump while guest-hosting "Jimmy Kimmel Live" — and right-wing media is furious.

On Friday, far-right talk show host Benny Johnson tore into Jelly Roll, real name Jason Bradley DeFord, in a lengthy rant posted to X, accusing him of declaring war on MAGA and destroying his own traditional base of support.

"Jelly Roll has now tripled down by giving a political speech on Jimmy Kimmel — walking back his earlier choice not to comment on ICE and law enforcement when he was asked," wrote Johnson. "To make matters worse, he pushed a warped leftist version of Christianity to promote open borders. He also thanked his 'Antifa friends' in the audience."

"Never has anyone crashed and burned this fast," Johnson continued. "Jelly Roll built an audience of Christians and Patriots who embraced him. The second Hollywood dangles a dollar in front of him, he lights all that goodwill on fire in one week. It’s not about the jokes. It’s the absolute fraudulent behavior to please Hollywood liberals for money and fame."

For his part, per USA Today, Jelly Roll has swatted aside any suggestion that his performance on Kimmel was scripted by Hollywood writers: "Do you think I would take orders from some sweaty little dork named Josh? No, I was just telling it like it is."

"It is funny that before this week everybody thought I was MAGA. And now they think I'm some sort of liberal snowflake," said Jelly Roll, saying much of that original impression seems to stem from when he shook Trump's hand at a 2024 UFC endorsement. He clarified he'll always shake a president's hand out of respect for the military, since his father is a veteran who died in 2019.

"A handshake is not an endorsement. A conversation is not an allegiance, and a joke is not a political point of view," he said.