The newly minted Grammy winner stepped in for Kimmel in late August, amid a revolving door of summer guest hosts.

Country star John Rich weighs in on Jelly Roll’s political commentary on Jimmy Kimmel Live

The newly minted Grammy winner stepped in for Kimmel in late August, amid a revolving door of summer guest hosts.

By Marina Watts

Marina Watts

Marina Watts is a news writer for with seven years experience covering entertainment, pop culture and celebrity news. Her previous work appears in PEOPLE, Bustle and Newsweek.

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September 4, 2026 12:55 p.m. ET

John Rich in January 2020; Jelly Roll in March 2026. Credit:

Jason Kempin/Getty; Craig Ambrosio/WWE/WWE via Getty

- Country star John Rich is speaking out about Jelly Roll’s political commentary during the latter’s guest hosting gig on *Jimmy Kimmel Live*.

- “I have to think he really believes every single word he said, or he wouldn’t have said it,” Rich claimed.

- Grammy winner Jelly Roll stepped in for Kimmel in late August, amid a revolving door of guest hosts.

John Rich is offering his own commentary on the political remarks made by fellow country star Jelly Roll, while the latter guest hosted *Jimmy Kimmel Live*.

Rich claimed that the three-time Grammy winner, whose real name is Jason DeFord, believed in what he was saying while stepping in for Jimmy Kimmel in late August.

He claimed that Jelly Roll “knows how this works,” insofar as a country musician’s goal of authenticity. “He knows who the audience is. And so I have to think he really believes every single word he said, or he wouldn’t have said it,” Rich said during his Aug. 31 appearance on *The Benny Show*, with Benny Johnson.

“When you make statements that are that hardcore and to a large extent counteractive to the presentation you’ve been making, you do understand in country music that half or more of your audience may disown you,” Rich added.

Jelly Roll at CMA Fest in Nashville, June 2026.

Terry Wyatt/WireImage

“They may turn their back on you. They may stop listening to you. They may turn you off. But you make the statement anyway.”

Rich later reiterated the claim that Jelly Roll showed “who he is” through his remarks. “What you saw him saying and how he presented himself on *Jimmy Kimmel*, that’s Jelly Roll. That’s who he is.”

“It’s not a crime or a sin to say what he said. It’s just a revealing thing. He should have been talking that way from the very beginning and he probably wouldn’t have this problem.”

* *contacted reps for Jelly Roll.

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While stepping in for Kimmel in late August, Jelly Roll commented on the IndyCar race in Washington, D.C. and the ongoing trade war with Canada. Following backlash after his first night hosting, he said on Aug. 25 that “any U.S. president should be able to handle a few jokes.”

He added, “So for those who threatened to stop listening to my music based on my comments last night, I just want to say with conviction: Go right ahead, because I’m gonna keep speaking my truth or my name isn’t Post Malone.”

Jelly Roll further explained on Aug. 27 that he leans “left on some things” but is “pretty down the middle” politically.

“I am a Christian. I am a country music singer. I’m a farmer,” he said. “But I also spent this past week working in a building with the kindest, most talented group of chihuahua-hugging, oat-milk-latte-loving lefties on God’s green earth, and it was a blast, y’all.”

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He concluded his guest hosting stint by reflecting on the 2026 Grammy Awards, where he evaded a political question about ICE’s presence in Minneapolis. Jelly Roll tearfully told the *Kimmel* audience that he was “afraid” at the time that his commentary would be taken as a political statement, but promised to “defend human dignity even when it can cost me something” moving forward.

“For the last six months I’ve watched people decide who I am, what I am, what I believe, what I support, and what I don’t support, and I felt that even more this week just because I told a couple of jokes,” Jelly Roll began.

“And, honestly, this goes back further for me y’all. This goes back to February of this year. I won my first Grammy — actually, somehow on that night I won three of them.”

“I got called on that stage. I got handed an award that I’ve been dreaming about since I was a child, and immediately after I was asked to make what I felt at the time was a political stance,” he recalled, adding that he “fumbled my words.”

Jelly Roll hosts ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ in August 2026.

Randy Holmes/Disney via Getty

Jelly Roll added that he wished he’d asked for more time to consider the question before answering. “I was afraid that anything I was going to say was going to be immediately taken as a political statement. And ironically, by trying so hard not to make a political statement, I became one.”

He said that he spent his entire career “trying not to belong to a political party,” in part because, as a convicted felon, he “wasn’t even allowed to vote” in elections. “But now that I have that right, it’s one I plan to exercise this coming November,” he promised.

“That night at the Grammys, I had an opportunity to speak up for people who were scared, hurting, and felt like nobody was speaking for them. I had a microphone, and I didn’t use it the right way,” Jelly Roll continued. “But my daddy always told me it is never too late to do the right thing.”

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Source: “EW Country”