Daniels’ non-answer answers to Kimmel’s questions were a study in weirdness that somehow seems appropriate to the moment.<\/b>
\nAnticipation had been building for the interview that porn star Stormy Daniels was set to give late-night host Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday night following President Donald Trump\u2019s State of the Union speech.
And then just a few hours before it hit the airwaves came a curveball: Daniels, who in 2011 gave an interview in which she claimed (in lurid detail) to have had an affair with Trump, apparently issued a statement saying she hadn\u2019t actually had such a relationship after all. \u201cThe fact of the matter is that each party to this alleged affair denied its existence in 2006,2011,2016,2017 and now again in 2018,\u201d the statement read. \u201cI am not denying the affair because I was paid \u2018hush money\u2019 as has been reported in overseas owned tabloids. I am denying this affair because it never happened.\u201d
\u201cI will have no further comment on this matter,\u201d it continued.
All of which made her appearance on ABC\u2019s \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live\u201d a little . awkward? Superfluous? What was left to talk about, then?
Kimmel opened his show with a quick sketch winking at the predicament. In the taped segment, Kimmel and Daniels were seated and appeared to be watching the State of the Union speech together.
\u201cOkay, enough of this,\u201d the comedian said, holding up a doll on a stick. \u201cStormy, show me on the puppet what he did to you.\u201d
Daniels then held up her own doll, which had a piece of tape over its mouth. (Get it? She would talk, but she\u2019d been gagged!)
\u201cKinky,\u201d he replied.
Before the interview, Kimmel also defended himself against Republicans who have said it was disrespectful or unfair to the president to have Daniels on his show. First, he addressed comments last week by conservative commentator S. E. Cupp, who had said while co-hosting \u201cThe View\u201d that Kimmel should also have as a guest Monica Lewinsky, the former White House intern who had an affair with President Bill Clinton. Kimmel then showed clips of his old shows \u2013 three of them \u2013 on which he had, in fact, had Lewinsky as a guest. \u201cPut that in your S. E. Cupp and smoke it,\u201d he concluded.
He also reminded viewers of when Trump himself brought as guests to a debate with Hillary Clinton three women who had accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct. To his critics, Kimmel said, \u201cI give you exhibit A,\u201d as a photo of Trump at a panel he held with the women flashed across the screen.
OK, so the interview was fair game. Got it.
But that didn\u2019t mean it wasn\u2019t seriously awkward. \u201cI had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to ask you,\u201d Kimmel began, and then described how he, too, had seen her statement just a few hours before she was due on his show. He then read the statement aloud and asked her if she had, in fact, signed it.
Daniels was cagey from the get-go. \u201cI don\u2019t know. Did I?\u201d she parried. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t look like my signature, does it?\u201d she added, suggesting she didn\u2019t know where it came from and that it was just another scrap from the Internet, which was rampant with crazy rumors about her.
(The Washington Post had confirmed the authenticity of the signed statement with Daniels\u2019 representative, Gina Rodriguez, earlier in the evening. Reached after the Kimmel interview aired, Rodriquez noted that Daniels had \u201cnot answered any of the questions directly\u201d and that the porn star had definitely signed the document that afternoon in front of her and Daniels\u2019 lawyer.)
Daniels managed to give a non-answer answer to Kimmel\u2019s next line of questioning, when he asked her if she had a nondisclosure agreement. Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump\u2019s attorney arranged a $130,000 payment to Daniels before the 2016 election in exchange for her silence on the matter. The lawyer, Michael Cohen, called reports of hush money to the porn star \u201ccompletely false.\u201d
\u201cDo I?\u201d she asked in return, offering up a shrug. Kimmel then deduced that if she didn\u2019t have a NDA, she could probably say so.
\u201cYou\u2019re so smart, Jimmy,\u201d Daniels said. So that was a yes, right?
If so, that would explain the rest of the interview, which was a study in weirdness that somehow felt appropriate to the moment.
There was more dodging from Daniels, who said she didn\u2019t think the transcript of the 2011 interview, which she gave to InTouch magazine, was accurate \u2013 \u201cnot as it is written,\u201d she said, but then claimed not to have seen the whole thing. \u201cI\u2019m too scared to look at it,\u201d she said.
On whether, as she claimed in the 2011 interview, Trump was watching Shark Week on TV during one of their trysts? \u201cEveryone loves Shark Week.\u201d
Is Trump terrified of sharks, as she\u2019d said in that interview? \u201cAren\u2019t we all?\u201d she wondered.
Kimmel rattled off more details about the alleged affair. \u201cIs any of that true?\u201d he asked.
\u201cDefine true,\u201d she responded.
Stymied, Kimmel gamely resorted to gags. After rolling a video clip in which Trump talked about the size of his. . hands, he presented her with three carrots and then told her to, you know, just pick one.
Daniels demurred. \u201cI\u2019m used to a sparkly carat,\u201d she said. \u201cWho wants a carrot?\u201d (Poor Kimmel, who brightly contended that \u201cthey\u2019re good for you!\u201d)
He then presented her again with a \u201cStormy puppet\u201d and another puppet resembling Trump in his underwear. \u201cLook familiar?\u201d he asked.
Still nothing, so the comedian tried playing a game of \u201cNever Have I Ever\u201d with the puppets that did not go well.
Finally, a last-ditch question as the show closed: \u201cOne last thing, have you ever made love to anyone whose names rhymes with \u2018Lonald Lump\u2019?\u201d
Her answer was the porn star\u2019s equivalent of a Mona Lisa smile: \u201cI\u2019ll call you whatever you want me to call you, baby.\u201d
Of course, Daniels\u2019 alleged-then-maybe-denied affair has been denied by the White House, too, with a spokeswoman calling the allegations \u201cold, recycled reports, which were published and strongly denied prior to the election.\u201d
Still, Daniels has certainly capitalized on her newfound attention and her connection to the president, with strip-club appearances on her \u201cMake America Horny Again\u201d tour hyped by photos with American flag backdrops. Her apparent statement on Tuesday night concluded with another bit of self-promotion and an invitation to be seen but not heard: \u201cPlease feel free to check me out on Instagram at @thestormydaniels.\u201d
Daniels will have more opportunities to not talk about Trump (and maybe promote her Instagram account again?) when she appears on ABC\u2019s \u201cThe View\u201d on Thursday.
Send questions\/comments to the editors.<\/p>\n

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