Jelly Roll's next career move revealed amid shock Bunnie XO divorce
Jelly Roll's new post-divorce career move has been unveiled, with news he will guest host Jimmy Kimmel Live! while its star takes a two-month hiatus.
Kimmel announced Thursday that a rotating group of celebrities including Rosie O'Donnell will temporarily take over his late-night show while he is away.
'I will be taking the next two months off, this time voluntarily,' he joked on Thursday's episode, referring to when ABC briefly pulled his show in late 2025 over comments he made about Charlie Kirk's death that prompted the Trump administration's FCC chairman to publicly threaten a probe into the program.
'I asked one of our commander-in-chief’s all-time favorites, Rosie O’Donnell, to be here to keep the hits coming,' he said, eliciting laughter from the live audience.
The episode aired three days after news broke that Jelly Roll filed for divorce from his wife Bunnie XO after a marriage of 10 years.
On the same evening Kimmel made his hiatus announcement, Bunnie released a tell-all podcast episode about her divorce, and Jelly Roll then stopped his concert in upstate New York to tell his fans 'every word' of what she had said was 'the truth.'
Jelly Roll's new post-divorce career move has been unveiled, with news he will guest host Jimmy Kimmel Live! while its star takes a two-month hiatus
Kimmel announced Thursday that a rotating group of celebrities including Rosie O'Donnell will temporarily take over his late-night show while he is away
Join the discussionHow do celebrity divorces and public confessions influence your trust in stars or their work?
What's your view?In his speech, which he shared on Instagram, Jelly Roll affirmed his continuing 'love' for Bunnie and hailed her 'my best friend forever.'
On her podcast, Bunnie revealed she and Jelly Roll were 'still having a baby together' despite no longer being a couple, continuing a two-year IVF process that she said 'wrecked' her and left her a 'shell' of her former self.
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No one can see the real reason Jelly Roll divorced Bunnie XO. I'm disgusted: JANA HOCKING
She laid bare the dynamics of their relationship, saying she was the 'chaser' and he was the 'runner,' and that she always loved him 'a little more.'
Bunnie candidly admitted to having an uncomfortable relationship with fame, while her husband is 'the complete opposite,' to the point she compared him to 'a politician.'
She also staunchly denied rumors of her infidelity with Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger, who used to be married to Avril Lavigne.
Jelly Roll echoed her remarks on stage in upstate New York, assuring the live audience: 'Nobody cheated on nobody.'
He added: 'Bunnie, I love you, baby. Thank you for those 10 years. They were incredible. Thank you for the next 10 years of friendship and 20 beyond that.'
Meanwhile, on Kimmel's episode, he not only named Jelly Roll and O'Donnell, but also Colman Domingo, Anthony Anderson, Tiffany Haddish, and Ike Barinholtz among a 'potent group' of guest hosts.
Jimmy Kimmel has announced Jelly Roll and Rosie O'Donnell as two of multiple rotating hosts who will temporarily take over his late night show; pictured in December 2025
Kimmel regularly steps back from the show, which premiered in 2003, each summer.
Anderson has been his most frequent guest host, with 24 episodes under his belt.
Jelly Roll, real name Jason DeFord, previously filled Kimmel's hosting shoes for two episodes in July 2025.
It will be the first time O'Donnell, who recently moved to Ireland to escape the Trump administration, takes on the hosting gig.
O'Donnell and Trump, 80, have been embroiled in a bitter feud for the the last two decades.
Kimmel – another outspoken Trump critic – cracked during Thursday's show: 'All I ask in return, Mr. President, is that you don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.'
O'Donnell and Trump's bad blood stretched back to a 2006 episode of The View, during which the entertainer called out the real estate mogul's failed marriages.
'Left the first wife, had an affair, left the second wife, had an affair. Had kids both times,' she listed during an episode at the time.
The feud rolled into the Republican's first presidential campaign, when he brought up O'Donnell during the Republican primary debates.
Asked about his tendency to use derogatory terms to describe women, Trump quipped, 'Only [when it came to] Rosie O'Donnell.'
The two have been at odds since.
'I asked one of our commander-in-chief’s all-time favorites, Rosie O’Donnell, to be here to keep the hits coming,' Kimmel quipped about President Donald Trump's most staunch critics; pictured on June 7
The 58-year-old media personality is planning a two-month break from his award-winning show Jimmy Kimmel Live; pictured with guest Jessica Williams on June 15
O'Donnell and President Donald Trump – who has pushed to have Kimmel's show taken off air – have been embroiled in a bitter feud for the the last two decades; pictured June 19
Last fall Jimmy Kimmel Live was suspended 'indefinitely' amid MAGA backlash over his comments regarding the death Kirk, a conservative activist.
Kirk was shot dead while debating students at Utah Valley University campus on Wednesday, September 10.
The suspected shooter is 23-year-old Tyler Robinson, who was raised in a Republican, gun-toting household.
Kimmel said during a subsequent opening monologue: 'We hit a new low over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.'
He then showed a clip of President Trump bizarrely directing a reporter's attention to White House construction after being asked how he was doing in the wake of Kirk's death.
His show's suspension lasted a week, and his return saw his ratings triple and reach his largest audience in over a decade.
The dates for O'Donnell's first turn as a late-night host have yet to be announced. Only hosting dates for Haddish have been released, for the week of July 6, ABC said. Kimmel is slated to return the day after Labor Day.
Badenoch blasts 'moaning' female Labour MPs over Burnham jobs 'quota'
Kemi Badenoch has told Labour women to earn a job in Andy Burnham's Cabinet instead of demanding they are handed jobs because of their gender.
The Tory leader lashed out today amid reports that female MPs are demanding the de-facto new prime minister introduce a 50:50 gender split 'quota' in his government.
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister also complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts.
But in a scathing article in the Times today Mrs Badenoch told them to 'stop moaning' and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'.
'There are many, many reasons why you shouldn't have any Milibands in the cabinet,' she said.
'But complaining that the boys haven't given them the right jobs or that the boys are taking all the jobs, just shows that Labour's women still don't get it.'
The idea of quotas was also attacked by Baroness Jacqui Smith, Labour's Skills Minister.
Asked by Times Radio if Mr Burnham should reserve jobs for women, she said: 'No, I think what Andy Burnham should be doing is building the very best team around him to change this country.'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband (above, right, in 2010) is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts
But Mrs Badenoch told them to pipe down and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party and seen by the BBC has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs after he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer.
'We are asking you to demonstrate this change from day one and address the toxicity and misogyny within our own party and government,' it said.
Labour has never had a female leader, while the Conservatives have had three, and Mrs Badenoch urged the government to follow its meritocratic example.
'If you run a meritocracy, then you do not have to worry about jobs for the boys,' she wrote.
'Every woman who is a Conservative MP, every woman who has ever won the leadership, has had to fight to get where she is.
'By contrast, Labour women are demanding guarantees from Burnham. But the truth is he doesn't have to give any guarantees.
'If none of Labour's women are prepared to get their hands dirty and challenge him for the leadership, their demands are toothless.'
'In fact, it's quite revealing that the women's parliamentary Labour Party has written to Burnham asking him to commit himself to at least 50 per cent female ministers.
'This has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is yet more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country.'
