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Jimmy Kimmel’s mash-up is a Jimmy Kimmel Live segment posted on October 29, 2019. It splices together Barack Obama’s May 1, 2011 announcement that Osama bin Laden had been killed with Donald Trump’s October 27, 2019 announcement that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had died in a U.S. operation. The joke depends on the contrast between the two presentations, so the clip works best when you know what each speech actually said and how each was delivered.
What the clip combines
The two speeches announced the deaths of leaders of different terrorist organizations, in separate U.S. operations, nearly eight years apart. Kimmel’s edit places them side by side. The table below sets out the points where the two announcements can be compared directly.
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| Point of comparison | Obama, bin Laden | Trump, al-Baghdadi |
|---|---|---|
| Date | May 1, 2011 | October 27, 2019 |
| Leader announced dead | Osama bin Laden, leader of al-Qaeda | Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of ISIS |
| Format | Televised statement | Remarks followed by an extended exchange with reporters |
| Venue | White House East Room | Not stated in the transcript consulted (American Presidency Project) |
| Start time | 11:35 p.m. EDT (White House archive) | Not stated |
| Length | “Nine minutes,” according to Scroll.in (2019); no method given | “Almost an hour,” according to Scroll.in (2019); no method given |
| Tone and detail | Formal and controlled, as contemporaneous coverage described it | Expansive, with graphic detail, as contemporaneous coverage described it |
The two announcements
Obama’s bin Laden statement (May 1, 2011)
Obama spoke from the White House East Room in a televised statement at 11:35 p.m. EDT. The archived transcript opens with the core announcement: “Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.” The speech is a single formal address with a clear beginning, middle and close, which is what makes it a recognizable template for a presidential death announcement.
Trump’s al-Baghdadi remarks (October 27, 2019)
Trump announced that al-Baghdadi had died after a U.S. operation. The event transcript records the announcement followed by an extended exchange with reporters, and in describing the operation Trump said of al-Baghdadi: “And he was scared out of his mind.” That exchange, rather than the announcement itself, is what made the remarks long and detailed, and it is the main material the edit draws on.
Why the contrast works as comedy
Kimmel’s post on October 29, 2019 framed the edit this way: “We mashed up @BarackObama’s Bin Laden speech with @RealDonaldTrump’s al-Baghdadi speech, and the results are amazing.” The effect comes from setting a restrained, single-address announcement against a longer, looser one. Scroll.in’s report of October 30, 2019 made the same comparison in its own words: “Obama’s announcement about the Bin Laden raid lasted nine minutes. Trump spoke for almost an hour about Abu Bakr.” The outlet then asked, “Guess which one was more dignified.”
These are the outlet’s and the show’s characterizations, not neutral measurements. The duration figures are Scroll.in’s published numbers, and the report does not explain how they were timed. Describing the delivery as “formal” or “expansive” is likewise a comparison of presentation style. It says nothing about the merits of either operation or either president’s record, and it is best read as the comic framing the edit was built to deliver.
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How to find the clip and the source texts
- Search YouTube for the original listing title, “MASH-UP: Trump’s al-Baghdadi Speech & Obama’s Bin Laden Speech.” Hosted video can be removed or made unavailable, so if the listing no longer appears, the clip may have been taken down.
- To confirm the date and the show credit, check Scroll.in’s October 30, 2019 report, which embeds Kimmel’s October 29 post and identifies the clip as a Jimmy Kimmel Live segment.
- For Obama’s exact wording, use the Obama White House archive’s transcript of the May 1, 2011 statement, which records the East Room setting and start time.
- For Trump’s exact wording, including the reporter exchange, use the American Presidency Project transcript dated October 27, 2019.
Comparing the clip against the transcripts is the quickest way to see how much of the joke depends on editing and how much depends on the speeches themselves. The transcripts give the wording; the clip gives the timing and juxtaposition, which the written texts cannot reproduce.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the duration claim does and does not establish
The “nine minutes” and “almost an hour” figures are the most quoted numbers around the clip, and they are useful for a rough sense of scale. They are not a verified comparison. The transcripts consulted do not carry matched runtime data, so these figures should be read as Scroll.in’s characterization from 2019 rather than as independently timed measurements.
Quick Recap
Rank #4
- Attribute the figures to Scroll.in, not to the White House or the American Presidency Project.
- Note that the length of Trump’s remarks includes the reporter exchange, which Obama’s address did not have.
- Treat the “more dignified” framing as Scroll.in’s rhetorical question, not a finding.
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