Everyman host Mike Rowe slammed late-night host Jimmy Kimmel for his “tone-deaf” comments mocking new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullen for being a former plumber, admitting he was “slightly damaged” by the potholes.
The “Dirty Jobs” veteran criticized Kimmel for his comments, which some called elitist.
Rowe said he was offended by “the suggestion that skilled workers should never develop into something new,” asking whether Mullen’s career progression from plumbing company owner to Congress and then to senior Cabinet official “isn’t the embodiment of the American dream?”
“Being offended is always a choice, and I do not choose to be offended by a joke, even one that comes at the expense of the skilled tradesmen my organization is trying to advance,” Rowe wrote on X. “But I am deeply pained by the suggestion that skilled workers should never develop into something new, and that competence is somehow limited to one trade.”
“Obviously experience and skill are important,” he continued, adding: “If I need a new kidney, I would prefer to have a doctor perform the surgery, not a late-night talk show host. But if the doctor in question is hosting a talk show, why would I hold that against him?”
Kimmel, a frequent critic of the Trump administration, came under fire last week for using Mullen’s past experience as a plumbing business owner as evidence that he was not qualified to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
“Trump has a whole new generation of thinkers, including the new Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne ‘Chuck Mike Bruce Dave’ Mellon-Mullen. Maybe watermelon is better,” Kimmel said. “He’s now a former state senator from Oklahoma. Before he was elected to the Senate, Markwayne Mullen was a low-level MMA fighter and a plumber. That’s right. We have a plumber protecting us from terrorism now. It worked for Super Mario. Why not Markwayne?”
He continued, “But honestly — I mean, if Trump’s going to keep picking these unqualified people to run the department, why don’t we have more fun with it? I mean, next time, instead of Markwayne, how about Lil Wayne for Homeland Security? At least we can get a concert out of it, right?”
Kimmel later doubled down, saying, “I’m not upset that the head of Homeland Security was a plumber. I’m upset that he’s not a plumber anymore.”
The late-night host added, “I wouldn’t put a plumber in charge of Homeland Security for the same reason I wouldn’t call a five-star general to pull a rat out of my toilet… We all have our areas of expertise.”
Kimmel’s comments on X were considered elitist by many commentators, who accused the comedian of mocking working-class professions. Among those offended by the joke was Rowe, who runs a non-profit organization promoting skilled trade jobs called mikeroweWORKS.
He stressed that “the shortage of skilled tradesmen is now making headlines and its closure is nothing less than a matter of national security.”
“The only sensible thing to do in the wake of this moment of deafness is to remind America that the skills gap is wide and growing,” Rowe wrote. “What we really need in this country are more welders who can talk intelligently about Aristotle, and more philosophers who can run things evenly. In other words, more generals who can fix their toilets, and more plumbers who can hold a powerful government job.”
He continued: “This is what Mullen did.”
“He was an ordinary citizen who mastered a basic skill and then turned that skill into a multimillion-dollar business that employed a lot of people and served a lot of customers. That gave him the freedom to do other things in his life, including working in public service, which brought him to Congress, where he spent the last 11 years doing everything that members of Congress do. And now, he has a very important position in the Cabinet of the current administration.”
“Isn’t this the embodiment of the American dream?” he asked.
“I realize that Jimmy Kimmel may have a problem with Mullen’s politics, but what possible objection could he have to his career path, or his desire to do more than one thing with his life?”
“I would love to talk, but I have to get a rat out of my toilet,” Rowe concluded.