Rosie O'Donnell Said Trump Made Her Famous Again and the White House Answered Her Personally

Caption: Rosie O’Donnell at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. Credit: David Shankbone, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Rosie O’Donnell Said She Was Suddenly Famous Again

Rosie O’Donnell returned to network late night television this week as a guest host on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and quickly found herself back inside a feud that began nearly 20 years ago.

During her Tuesday, August 18 monologue, O’Donnell joked that she was suddenly “re-famous” and sarcastically thanked President Donald Trump for helping put her back in the spotlight.

“I couldn’t have done it without you, sweetie,” she said, according to People.

O’Donnell did not stop there. Across her guest-hosting run she repeatedly mocked Trump, referring to him with a series of nicknames and later closing out her week with a song aimed at the president.

Then the White House answered her.

The Response Came From the White House

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle responded to O’Donnell’s television appearances in a statement reported by People.

Ingle called O’Donnell a “nasty woman” and a “total slob” and accused her of being consumed by what he described as Trump Derangement Syndrome.

That changed the shape of the exchange.

O’Donnell and Trump insulting one another is nothing new. They have been doing that publicly since 2006. What was unusual this time was that a White House spokesperson issued the response while Trump was serving as president.

O’Donnell acknowledged the attack when she returned to Jimmy Kimmel Live! for her final night as guest host. She introduced herself by playing off the “nasty” description before launching into another round of jokes about Trump.

This Fight Started With Miss USA in 2006

The feud began in December 2006, when O’Donnell was a co-host of The View and Trump was best known nationally as a businessman and television personality.

Trump, then the owner of the Miss Universe Organization, had announced that Miss USA Tara Conner could keep her crown after controversy involving her conduct, provided she entered rehabilitation.

O’Donnell criticized Trump on The View, questioning his position as a moral authority and mocking his personal and business history.

ABC News reported at the time that O’Donnell told viewers Trump was acting like “the moral compass for 20-year-olds in America.”

Trump responded publicly and repeatedly.

CBS News reported that he attacked O’Donnell in television interviews, criticized her career and appearance and threatened legal action.

What could have disappeared as a short-lived television argument instead became one of the most durable celebrity feuds of the era.

The Feud Followed Trump Into Presidential Politics

Nine years later, O’Donnell’s name unexpectedly appeared during the first Republican presidential debate of the 2016 election cycle.

Moderator Megyn Kelly challenged Trump over derogatory language he had used about women.

Trump interrupted with a two-word answer: “Only Rosie O’Donnell.”

Kelly immediately replied that the examples went well beyond O’Donnell.

The exchange became one of the most replayed moments of the August 2015 debate and showed how thoroughly the old television feud had become part of Trump’s public persona.

O’Donnell and Trump continued criticizing one another in the years that followed.

The argument therefore did not begin with this week’s Kimmel appearances. What happened this week was another escalation in a fight that had already crossed from daytime television into presidential politics.

O’Donnell Turned the Feud Into Part of Her Comeback

O’Donnell’s guest-hosting run also gave the story another layer.

She had been away from the daily network talk-show format that once made her one of television’s most recognizable hosts. Returning to a late-night desk put her back in a setting where the Trump feud could immediately become material.

On her second night, she leaned into that fact herself.

O’Donnell said she was grateful to be hosting network television again and joked that she had suddenly become famous all over again. She then credited Trump for the renewed attention.

It was sarcastic, but the attention was real.

People reported that Monday’s episode drew 1.87 million viewers, the highest audience of the season among Jimmy Kimmel Live! guest hosts, while O’Donnell’s opening monologue accumulated millions of views online.

By the end of the week, entertainment outlets were covering not simply O’Donnell’s television return but another chapter in O’Donnell versus Trump.

Twenty Years Later, the Fight Has a Different Setting

The basic argument is recognizable from 2006: O’Donnell criticizes Trump, Trump or his allies respond personally, and another round of coverage follows.

The offices surrounding the fight are what changed.

In the first round, O’Donnell was sitting on The View while Trump was a businessman, pageant owner and television star.

In 2015, their feud resurfaced on a Republican presidential debate stage.

In 2026, O’Donnell made Trump part of a late-night television comeback and received an answer from a spokesperson for the White House.

A celebrity feud that started over Miss USA has now lasted long enough to move through three different versions of American public life.

And after almost 20 years, both sides still know exactly how to restart it.

References: Rosie O’Donnell Thanks Trump for Getting Her Back in the Spotlight While Guest-Hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live | Rosie O’Donnell Thanks President Oompa J. Loompa for Making Her Re-Famous | Nasty Rosie O’Donnell slams Donald Trump with scathing song urging him to resign