VEGAS MYTHS BUSTED: Trump Axed Jimmy Kimmel’s MGM Grand Run
Posted on: May 4, 2026, 07:21h.
Last updated on: May 4, 2026, 08:28h.
This viral new myth has everything: celebrity beef, casino intrigue, and the irresistible fantasy that the whim of a vengeful president can topple a billion‑dollar entertainment schedule. What it doesn’t have is a shred of truth.
“The MGM Grand in Las Vegas has canceled Jimmy Kimmel’s summer residency after the President and First Lady called for a full boycott of the ‘comedian,’” several social-media “news” posts claim. “Kimmel has gone to the Grand every summer for eleven years while his show is on hiatus.”
“That contract won’t be renewed,” MGM Entertainment Director Joseph Barron is quoted in the posts. “Mr. Kimmel will need to find a new home for his summer gig.”
Jimmy Kimmel Lie
Let’s start with the obvious and work our way down from there.
- There was no Jimmy Kimmel residency at the MGM Grand this summer to cancel. Not this summer. Not ever. Though he grew up in Las Vegas, Kimmel’s only local footprint is the comedy club bearing his name on the Linq Promenade. He opened it in May 2019 and occasionally pops in to host or introduce surprise guests. (Jimmy Kimmel Live! also taped at Planet Hollywood and the Rio in 2019.)
- Major casino operators do not take partisan political stands. They rely on customers from all political backgrounds and avoid alienating any of them. The idea that MGM Resorts would cancel a show because a politician demanded it — even a president — is the opposite of how casinos corporations operate.
- On April 27, President Trump demanded that ABC-TV cancel Kimmel’s talk show. This is for reasons you’re probably aware of if you’re reading this, but if not, you can Google them. The president did not call for a “full boycott,” whatever that looks like.
- The cancellation of a celebrity residency at a major Strip resort would be reported by legitimate media outlets hours before it appeared on a social-media page. And AP, Reuters, TMZ, Variety, Deadline, Hollywood Reporter and Casino.org wouldn’t continue ignoring it if it were true.
- The president of entertainment for MGM Resorts International is Ryan Abboushi. There is no MGM employee named Joseph Barron, which is a recurring hoax name used in dozens of fake stories.
- Nobody has ever called the MGM Grand “the Grand.”
A Familiar Foe
On April 28, America Loves Liberty — a Facebook page with more than 733K followers — posted this “satirical” news story, which more than 25K people liked and more than 3K shared.
But not all those people can be faulted for missing the satire, because there was none. America Loves Liberty is one of a growing number of disinformation pages associated with the Dunning-Kruger Times, an incessant stream of digital diarrhea engineered for maximum believability without a hint of the humor, sarcasm, or genius of The Onion.
The Dunning-Kruger Times is operated by Christopher Blair, a Portland, Maine resident described by BBC News as “the godfather of fake news.” Blair is also responsible for the Vegas myths we previously busted about Gordon Ramsay booting Taylor Swift from Hell’s Kitchen in 2024 and Caesars Palace canceling Garth Brooks’ 2023 residency over anti-trans backlash.
Blair insists his work teaches a “lesson” — that everyone should check a site’s “About Us” page before sharing any of its posts. If anyone checked America Loves Liberty’s, they would have found: “Nothing on this page is real.”
But nobody checks a Facebook page’s “About Us” page in order to verify its legitimacy — and for good reason: Any page willing to publish fake news is certainly willing to lie on its “About Us” page.
Blair’s response to any and all criticism is right there on the Dunning-Kruger Times “About Us” page — the one nobody bothers reading for good reason.
“As for the morality, what the f*** ever,” it reads. “I own a bunch of stuff, I’ve been building it for years, it makes me a nice living. Don’t like it? I don’t care.”
Look for “Vegas Myths Busted” every Monday on Casino.org. Visit VegasMythsBusted.com to read previously busted Vegas myths. Got a suggestion for a Vegas myth that needs busting? Email corey@casino.org.
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