Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel has hit out at Donald Trump after the president received the first-ever FIFA Peace Prize.
Trump received the accolade last weekend at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. FIFA president Gianni Infantino presented Trump with both a peace trophy and medal, the latter of which Trump wore immediately after being presented it. Kimmel has since hit out at the prize and Trump's reception of it, suggesting the only person taking it seriously is Trump, and that it is "deeply pathetic" to see.
The talk show host said, "One of the greatest honors of his life. Even his family knows this is a BS prize designed to keep him from screwing up the World Cup, except for him. It is so deeply pathetic, it almost makes me feel bad for him."
Kimmel then joked the trophy was bought for "$300 at the trophy shop" and that "he got the President of the United States to do anything he wants." A freeze frame of Trump taking the peace medal was compared to The Grinch lifting the star from a Christmas tree.
Kimmel added, "Then we have our lumbering dope grinning from ear to ear with this meaningless medal. Like a fat kid who gets a karate trophy for breaking a piece of balsa wood."
Trump's appearance at the FIFA World Cup draw earlier this week had him branded an "elderly man" who was seen "yammering" on stage after receiving his award. Heather Digby Parton of Salon suggested the appearance suggested Trump's power base was dwindling, as was his public image.
She wrote, "Mind you, the hardcore base is sticking with Trump so far because, like their idol, they can never admit they were wrong. But even they are starting to feel the dissonance of hearing this feeble, elderly man yammering about peace amid daily news footage of grotesque attacks on immigrants, boat strikes and increasingly bellicose warmongering."
Trump was seen dancing to the Village People's performance of YMCA later in the ceremony, which was described as a "strange moment" by Parton given the context of what was happening outside of the John F. Kennedy Centre for Performing Arts.
She added, "As the president performed his “Trump dance” and the Village People delivered 'YMCA' at the FIFA prize event, the U.S. military struck another boat, killing four more people. The strange dissonance became even more jarring when the administration finally released its long-awaited 'National Security Strategy.'"