Rosie O'Donnell has alleged that ABC blocked a parody song mocking Donald Trump that she planned to perform when she guest-hosts Jimmy Kimmel Live! this month. The 64-year-old told the podcast On with Kara Swisher that the network "told me I can't, that they couldn't get permission for the parody because it's political content."
O'Donnell has carried on a 20-year feud with Trump and relocated to Ireland to avoid living under his second presidency. She has returned briefly to America to join the rotating group of celebrities filling in for Kimmel during his summer vacation.
The bit she hoped to perform was a parody of "If I Only Had a Brain," the Scarecrow's song from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. She sang sample lines for Swisher: "His approval rate is 30, his diaper's always dirty, I think the guy's insane. He ain't no stable genius, got a teeny, tiny penis, and he doesn't have a brain."
A source familiar with the situation gave the Daily Mail a different account, saying it is "a standard song clearance that is actually still in process." The Daily Mail has contacted O'Donnell's representative and ABC for comment.
Origins of the parody song
The original song was written by composer Harold Arlen and lyricist E.Y. "Yip" Harburg. Ray Bolger, a Broadway star known for shows including Where's Charley?, performed it as the Scarecrow alongside Judy Garland's Dorothy in the film.
L. Frank Baum's original novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has entered the public domain, but the rights to the 1939 film are currently held by Warner Bros. The Daily Mail has contacted Warner Bros for comment.
O'Donnell will host Jimmy Kimmel Live! for a week starting August 17. She said she plans on doing whatever she can while working with the writers on Kimmel's team, and on honoring how brave and bold he has been.
Kimmel show's past suspension
Jimmy Kimmel Live! was briefly suspended last September after Kimmel suggested that Charlie Kirk's killer may have been part of the "MAGA gang," which prompted Trump's FCC chairman to publicly threaten a probe into the show. The early murder investigation indicated that accused gunman Tyler Robinson held leftist views and allegedly texted his live-in transgender partner Lance Twiggs, also known as Luna, that he shot Kirk because he had had enough of his hatred.
The suspension drew an outcry from Hollywood, and ABC restored the show to the air within a week. Robinson, 23, is now standing trial for Kirk's murder in Utah, where he could face execution by lethal injection or firing squad if convicted.
Kimmel's other guest hosts
Kimmel announced his summer break in late June, joking on air that he would be taking the next two months off, this time voluntarily. He said he had asked Rosie O'Donnell, one of the commander-in-chief's all-time favorites, to keep the hits coming.
Other guest hosts include Jelly Roll, who is amid a publicity push around his divorce from Bunnie XO, as well as Colman Domingo, Anthony Anderson and Tiffany Haddish.
Asked by Swisher how she planned to discuss Trump on the show, O'Donnell said she plans on doing what Kimmel has done so beautifully, giving it to him in a comedic, honest, truthful way, and that she will do it as big as she can.
A feud dating back to 2006
O'Donnell's dispute with Trump dates to 2006, when she was a host on The View and criticized him on air for presenting himself as a moral authority during a Miss USA cocaine scandal despite his own two divorces and publicized affairs.
Their rivalry resurfaced when Trump mocked her onstage during a Republican primary debate in 2015. After moderator Megyn Kelly confronted him for calling women names like "fat pigs," "slobs" and "dogs," he joked, "Only Rosie O'Donnell." O'Donnell has remained one of his regular celebrity critics through both presidential terms, the second of which prompted her move abroad.
