RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 3 sourcesMaking his final appearance as guest host of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Thursday night, country music star Jelly Roll walked back his previous assertions that he is apolitical just days after mocking President Donald Trump’s weight, physical fitness and approval ratings.
"A lot of people seem to think these Jimmy Kimmel writers have secretly been pulling the strings and forcing this good old country boy to poke fun at our commander-in-chief," Jelly Roll told the audience . "But let’s be real about this y’all: Do you think I would take orders from some sweaty little dork named Josh? No, I was just telling it like it is. And for some reason that seemed to freak a lot of people out. I guess now that I’ve lost all this weight, folks can finally see I have balls."
The country music star continued, adding, "It is funny that before this week everybody thought I was MAGA. And now they think I’m some sort of liberal snowflake."
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He went on to walk the audience through his cultural and political evolution, and pushed back on criticism of his celebration of the UFC Freedom 250 event held at the White House in June — using the event as a catalyst for his message surrounding his political views.
"But just because I watched a fight on TV , doesn’t mean I support everything this administration does," Jelly Roll said. "Just like how hosting Jimmy Kimmel’s show doesn’t mean I have all of Jimmy Kimmel’s politics."
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"Sure, I lean left on some things," he continued. "But like most folks, I’m pretty down the middle. I am a Christian. I am a country music singer. I’m a farmer. I’m a bow hunter. And most of the things I eat, I prefer to get with a stick and a string. That’s the truth."
He concluded the segment of his monologue by joking about his newfound friendships with Kimmel’s crew, adding, "And I truly am going to miss all of my communist, Antifa friends here on the staff of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’"
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Jelly Roll, whose real name is Jason DeFord, then gave a heartfelt, sometimes emotional explanation of his previous unwillingness to share his political views, in which he addressed a moment during the 2026 Grammys Awards where he declined to offer a personal opinion about the country’s political climate and questioned why people would seek his views.
"For the last six months, I’ve watched people decide who I am, what I am, what I believe, what I support and what I don’t support," he said. "And I felt that even more this week, just because I told a couple of jokes. And honestly, this goes back further for me, y’all. This goes back to February this year. I won my first [Grammy]. Actually, somehow on that night, I won three of them."
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He added that shortly after receiving his award, he was asked a question invoking his political stance and "fumbled his words."
"Looking back, I don’t necessarily regret asking for more time before I spoke," Jelly Roll said. "I wish more people took more time before they spoke. But I do wish I had found the words to express my heart just a little bit sooner. But I was afraid that anything I was going to say was going to be immediately taken as a political statement."
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Jelly Roll — who has a years-long history of run-ins with the law and was pardoned by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee in December 2025 — pointed to his new ability to vote in the upcoming midterm elections, but did not reveal who he plans to cast his ballot for.
"And, ironically, by trying so hard not to make a political statement, I became one," he said. "I spent my entire career trying not to belong to a political party — partly because until March of this year, I wasn’t even allowed to vote. But now that I have that right, it’s one I plan to exercise this coming November."
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He added that he wants to "speak for the unspoken for," and expressed a sense of regret for his unwillingness to talk about his views when given the platform.
"My daddy always told me it is never too late to do the right thing," he said. "So I am going to try to do the right thing right now because human dignity isn’t Republican nor Democrat. Compassion isn’t left-wing and mercy isn’t right-wing."
"Pain and healing knows no partisanship," he added. "Hurting hearts are more important than poll numbers and there are no boundaries or borders for broken families."
Jelly Roll concluded his week of hosting with an anecdote about his father, a "blue back Democrat," and his uncle, a "red hat Republican," telling the audience there was little the two agreed on.
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"This might be hard for people to understand out there, but they were absolutely best friends," he said.
Jelly Roll’s apparent transparency and candidness while hosting "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" may have been the right play, CEO of Axia Public Relations Jason Mudd told Fox News Digital.
"If Jelly Roll were my client, I'd tell him to keep doing exactly what he did on that stage. State the distinction, then stop talking. The second you start defending and justifying, the audience assumes you're hiding or protecting something," Mudd said.
Mudd pointed to Jelly Roll’s use of a personal family story to highlight the key point of his monologue — a decision the PR expert believes paid off.
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"The part I keep coming back to isn't about politics at all," Jelly Roll said. "It's the story about his dad and his uncle, one a Democrat, one a Re...
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