Up to date Aug. 28, 2026, 10:45 a.m. ET
Jelly Roll is clarifying his political opinions after taking digs at President Donald Trump throughout his stint as host of “Jimmy Kimmel Stay!“
The nation star addressed the backlash his feedback about Trump garnered and the suggestion that “these Jimmy Kimmel writers have secretly been pulling the strings and forcing this good previous nation boy to poke enjoyable at our commander-in-chief.”
“However let’s be actual about this, y’all,” the “Want a Favor” singer mentioned throughout his last, 18-minute monologue Thursday, Aug. 27. “Do you suppose I might take orders from some sweaty little dork named Josh? No, I used to be simply telling it like it’s. And for some motive, that appeared to freak lots of people out.”
The 41-year-old, who has beforehand sidestepped questions on his political opinions, put it out within the open.
“It’s humorous that earlier than this week all people thought I used to be MAGA. And now they suppose I am some type of liberal snowflake,” Jelly Roll continued. “Internet hosting Jimmy Kimmel’s present does not imply I’ve all of Jimmy Kimmel’s politics. Positive, I lean left on some issues, however like most folk I am fairly down the center.”
The rapper continued, “I’m a Christian. I’m a rustic music singer. I am a farmer. I am a bow hunter. And many of the issues I eat, I desire to get with a stick and a string. That is the reality.”
The feedback come months after the “Son of a Sinner” singer appeared on the Grammy Awards and declined a reporter’s query about politics. He mentioned he was a “dumb redneck” and admitted to being checked out of politics, however promised to share “precisely what I’ve to say in probably the most loud and clear means I’ve ever spoken in my life.”
Jelly Roll mentioned he has “watched individuals resolve who I’m, what I’m, what I consider, what I help and what I do not help” due to it.
Watch Jelly Roll’s full monologue on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Stay’
“I felt that much more this week, simply because I advised a few jokes,” he added. “I used to be requested to make what I felt on the time was a political stance. I fumbled my phrases. Trying again, I do not essentially remorse asking for extra time earlier than I spoke. I want extra individuals took extra time earlier than they spoke. However I do want I had discovered the phrases to specific my coronary heart just a bit bit sooner.”
He mentioned he “was afraid that something I used to be going to say was going to be instantly taken as a political assertion. And, paradoxically, by making an attempt so laborious to not make a political assertion, I turned one.”
Jelly Roll, who has been open about being a convicted felon, mentioned he just lately had his proper to vote restored, and that he plans to train that proper in November. The chance makes him need to “converse for the unstated for,” he mentioned.
Jelly Roll addresses Grammys political query, Trump handshake
“That evening on the Grammys, I had a possibility to talk up for individuals who had been scared, hurting, and felt like no person was talking for them. I had a microphone, and I did not use it the suitable means,” he continued, getting emotional. “So I’m going to attempt to do the suitable factor proper now as a result of human dignity is not Republican nor Democrat. Compassion is not left wing and mercy is not proper wing. Ache and therapeutic know no partisanship.”
He added, “[Jesus] gave us two commandments. ‘Love God with all of your coronary heart and love your neighbor as your self.’ That is what I ought to have mentioned that evening. There wasn’t a political celebration exemption. It didn’t require us to know what nation you had been born in. There wasn’t a sentence afterward that mentioned, ‘Until you are afraid of them.’ It simply mentioned, ‘Love your neighbor.'”
Along with his Grammy’s response, Jelly Roll was additionally criticized for shaking Trump’s hand at a UFC occasion in 2024. He defined that as a result of his father, who died in 2019, was a veteran, “I’ll all the time shake the hand of the sitting president of america when requested.” However “a handshake just isn’t an endorsement. A dialog just isn’t an allegiance, and a joke just isn’t a political perspective.”
Jelly Roll added that he “would by no means be so afraid of being referred to as political once more.”
“We might disagree. We might argue. We might vote fully. However let’s attempt to not let the couple of issues we disagree about overlook the lots of and lots of of issues we have now in frequent,” he mentioned earlier than tearing up. “My daddy was proper about that. And he was proper about one thing else: It’s by no means too late to do the suitable factor. And I hope that tonight, whereas he is wanting down from Heaven, I made him proud.”
