Jimmy Kimmel Asks People About MLK’s Trump ‘Endorsement,’ Hilarity Ensues


Jimmy Kimmel is back at it again in his popular segment called “Lie Witness News.” This time around, he asked random people on the street about Martin Luther King’s supposed “endorsement” of Donald Trump.

It appears that many people in the video didn’t know that MLK is, in fact, dead. The Huffington Post reports the camera crew hit the streets yesterday before the segment aired later that night on the show.

“Today is the day in which we honor the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who was a great man. Any fifth grader will tell you all you need to know about Martin Luther King, but adults are different,” Kimmel began. “So today we went out on the street and asked people what they thought about Martin Luther King endorsing Donald Trump for President.”

The reactions were golden.

The very first lady reacted by saying, “Please don’t. I would be a little nervous, I think he’d be the last person to endorse Donald Trump for President.”

Little does she know he actually would be the last person to endorse Trump because he’s dead.

Another lady responded with, “I figure if he’s gonna endorse Donald Trump for president, then maybe he thinks he would be a good President, in his opinion.”

Wise words indeed. The segment has a pretty rich history. In fact, Jimmy Kimmel has deceived people on a variety of issues like fake polar bear attacks.

Psychology Today actually released an article a few months ago outlining the psychological reasons why people get confused by Jimmy Kimmel’s “Lie Witness News” segment.

Jordan Gaines Lewis, the author of that article, says that a few things are at work. First, she says that people tend to respect authority.

“In Kimmel’s segment, the ‘reporters’ play the authority figure. Although the interviewee may not be familiar with the topic at hand, the reporter is asking in such a way that implies that they should. Not knowing any better, the interviewee feels they must go along with it,” she writes.

The second psychological trick that’s at work is something called a social proof, which means people will do things they see others doing.

“An individual who thinks they’re on the news — prompted by a serious, unsmiling reporter asking them to discuss a flag-burning event featuring a Tuskegee Airman and the Wu-Tang Clan — is likely to give a serious, unsmiling response, no matter how ridiculous the story,” she continues.

The third and last trick at work is commitment and consistency.

“If people commit to an idea, they’re more likely to honor it so as not to muddy their self-image,” Lewis writes. “People don’t like to back down. We don’t want to look like idiots, especially if we’re being filmed for the local news.”

These three points explain why we’re so quick to take Kimmel’s questioning at face value. This explains why one woman being questioned went on and on about Hillary Clinton and Malcolm X living together on Martha’s Vineyard.

“Well, Malcolm X and Hillary Clinton are from Martha’s Vineyard. They both have a home on Martha’s Vineyard, so they vacation and golf together when they’re on Martha’s Vineyard,” she said.

Who knows what the next topic will be for “Lie Witness News,” but we’re sure Jimmy Kimmel will deliver something memorable.

[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]

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