Jimmy Kimmel eviscerates Trump’s Easter coronavirus deadline: ‘We’re all gonna die so the president can eat Peeps’

‘Even Jesus is like, Jesus! Calm down,’ Kimmel jokes

Jimmy Kimmel has spoken out against Donald Trump’s suggestion that coronavirus confinement might be lifted by Easter.

The late-night host commented on the president’s remarks during an instalment of Jimmy Kimmel’s Quarantine Minilogue – a daily online show that he’s been filming from home.

On Tuesday, Kimmel played a clip of a recent town hall in which Trump said he would “love to have [the country] open by Easter”.

“By Easter? That’s in two and a half weeks!” Kimmel said.

“Even Jesus is like, ‘Jesus, calm down! Let’s think this through.’”

Kimmel added: “We’re all gonna die so the president can eat Peeps” – a reference to the marshmallow sweets commonly used in Easter baskets in the US.

Trump’s statement sharply contradicted health officials’ calls for tighter restrictions on people’s movements.

Scientists and other politicians in the US have warned that the worst is yet to come.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said his state’s infections are doubling every three days, threatening to swamp the city’s intensive care units. The state has 26,000 infections and more than 200 deaths.

“One of the forecasters said to me: ‘We were looking at a freight train coming across the country,’” the governor said. “We’re now looking at a bullet train.”

Easter falls on 12 April this year, with many usual large gatherings expected to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Additional reporting by agencies