Ivanka Trump Seemingly Groped in Unsettling 2007 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' Episode, Outrage Ensues

A video from a 2007 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! has caused immense outrage. It showed comedian Andy Dick groping Ivanka Trump and harassing her during her appearance. The video began with Dick interrupting Trump's interview, asking her, "You don't play up the glitter on your legs?" as he reached over and started rubbing her legs, as per USA Today. A visibly uncomfortable Trump attempted to laugh it off and brush away Dick's wandering hands. "Andy, please don't touch Ivanka," Kimmel told the actor, though Dick ignored him.

Trump tried to defuse the tense situation, joking, "Oh wait, did I say I was single? I thought I had a boyfriend." But Dick persisted, prompting Kimmel to stand up and physically remove the comedian's hands from Trump while warning, "Andy, please don't. Donald Trump will kill both of us." Despite Kimmel and Trump's clear objections, Dick refused to back down, leading security to eventually drag him off the stage as the segment derailed into chaos, as per The Hollywood Reporter. In a subsequent interview, Kimmel described having to 'escort [Dick] out by his feet' after the inappropriate behavior. 

The resurfaced clip drew widespread condemnation, viewed through the lens of the #MeToo movement's reckoning around sexual harassment and assault. While Trump and Kimmel appeared to downplay the incident at the time, critics argued it exemplified the normalization of misconduct that women routinely faced. For his part, Dick seemed unremorseful about groping Trump even years later. In a 2017 Instagram post, he explicitly described his actions as, "The time I “groped” Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, on Jimmy Kimmel Live!"  and made light of the incident, saying, "I also mistakenly thought she would date me. Is anybody going to carry Trump off? No joke."

The video's re-emergence also led to people talking about Dick being convicted of misdemeanor sexual battery in an unrelated case from April 2018 that occurred in Los Angeles, as per Rolling Stone. An Uber driver accused the comedian of reaching over and grabbing his genitals when they were riding together on the ride-sharing service. The entertainer had also faced numerous other accusations of groping, licking, and sexual misconduct on film sets and at comedy shows over the years. 

After the episode aired, Kimmel told Extra that Dick 'was a little out of it.' "She came out, he wanted a big, wet kiss. It was time for Andy to go, so I escorted him out by his feet," the host said at the time. He revealed Dick was not upset by being dragged off the stage: "He's Andy. He's not upset. He's not apologetic. He's just nutty." "He always makes me a little uncomfortable," Kimmel added, "You have no idea what he's going to do next."