Newsmax Host Carl Higbie Deletes Jelly Roll Music After Country Star Makes Trump Weight Jokes

Conservative TV host Carl Higbie used his Newsmax show in New York on Thursday night to delete Jelly Roll tracks from his phone on live television, lashing out at the country star after Jelly Roll mocked President Donald Trump's weight during a guest-host spot on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Jelly Roll, who has long tried to stay out of overt politics, stepped into late-night this week as a guest host on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! and promptly detonated his uneasy truce with parts of his MAGA fanbase.

In his opening monologue, he cracked a run of jokes about Trump, targeting everything from the president's size to his record on gas prices, healthcare and the war in Iran. The reaction online was instant and, in right-wing circles at least, pretty mad.

Carl Higbie, Jelly Roll and a Very Public 'Unfollow'

Jelly Roll used his own body transformation as material, telling the ABC audience he had lost around 300 pounds and quipping that he had 'lost an entire Donald Trump.' He went further, addressing the president directly in one gag: 'Mr President, from one fat pig to another, take it from me that physical fitness is very important.'

At another point, he pushed the line again, saying viewers could argue about whether Trump was 'mentally fit' but could probably agree that he is 'certainly not physically fit.' That kind of fat-on-fat humour, as Jelly Roll framed it, did not land with everyone. 'I thought fat-on-fat crime was OK!' he later said, doubling down rather than backing off.

Higbie, a former Navy SEAL and staunch Trump loyalist, clearly put himself in the offended camp. On his Newsmax programme Carl Higbie Frontline, he told viewers Jelly Roll had been a personal favourite until the late-night monologue triggered what he called a 'culture clash' over the president. He accused the singer of abandoning his long‑held decision to avoid politics and of 'coming in hot with Trump jokes.'

'Jelly Roll, who was previously a favourite of mine, he's been filling in for Jimmy Kimmel this week,' Higbie said. 'And after intentionally staying out of politics for like his whole career, he decided to come in hot with Trump jokes, calling him a fat pig, and he's not exactly a calendar model himself.'

Higbie then rolled clips from Jimmy Kimmel Live! showing some of Jelly Roll's punchlines. In one, the musician tried to widen the frame beyond Trump as an individual. 'Any US president should be able to handle a few jokes, right?' Jelly Roll said. 'They should also be able to handle gas prices, healthcare, and the occasional international conflict.'

He also addressed the brewing backlash among Trump supporters watching from home. 'Look, y'all, I get it. Some people are mad at me for goofing on Trump,' Jelly Roll said. 'But if you wanted me to make jokes about Kamala Harris, you should have voted for her.'

Jelly Roll Pushes Back as MAGA Turns on Him

The real flashpoint came when Jelly Roll spoke directly to his own audience, acknowledging that some fans had vowed to stop streaming his work after the monologue. His response was blunt. 'So for those who threatened to stop listening to my music based on my comments last night, I just wanna say with conviction, go right ahead,' he said.

That line seemed to egg on critics more than calm them. Higbie seized on it as a kind of dare. Reaching into his pocket mid‑segment, he pulled out his phone and told viewers: 'Go ahead. OK, dude. OK. I'll be deleting his music as we speak.' Newsmax cameras zoomed in on his screen as he deleted Jelly Roll's track I Am Not OK from his Apple Music library.

'I held him in high regards until then. Come on, dude,' Higbie added, visibly irritated. It was a small act, a single swipe on a smartphone, but it played as a tidy bit of culture‑war theatre, the sort of stuff US cable news now runs on.

Higbie's reaction also landed in a particular political context. He was appointed by Trump as external affairs chief at the Corporation for National and Community Service during the president's first term, according to federal records, before resigning in 2018 after racist remarks he had made in 2013 resurfaced.

He has since worked with pro‑Trump outfits including America First Policies and Great America PAC, which helps explain why a country singer's late‑night jokes could quickly turn into prime‑time content.

MAGA Backlash Spills Beyond Newsmax

The anger did not stop with Higbie's performative delete. Jelly Roll's monologue drew heat across Republican circles and from some elected officials. Florida's Chief Financial Officer, Jimmy Patronis, posted on X that the musician 'is 100% not welcomed to Florida's panhandle,' underlining how local politicians are now willing to treat late‑night comedy as a litmus test for loyalty.

Jelly Roll, for his part, had largely sidestepped explicit political talk in interviews before taking the Jimmy Kimmel Live! gig. His decision to lean into Trump jokes on network television marked a clear shift, intentional or not, in how openly he is prepared to signal his views.

What happens next is harder to pin down. There is no polling to show how many fans will actually stop listening, and no clear evidence yet that his streaming numbers have taken a serious hit.

What is clear is that a guest monologue on a late‑night chat show has spiralled into a familiar fight over respect, loyalty and who gets to crack jokes about the president. One entertainer tried to poke fun at the most powerful man in the country.

Another entertainer‑turned‑host responded by wiping a playlist and turning it into a segment. That is where American politics lives now, at least for one news cycle.