Jimmy Kimmel and Ted Cruz Agree to Charity Basketball Game

Late night host Jimmy Kimmel is about to square off against Sen. Ted Cruz in the ring, but there won’t be any punches.

It all began with Kimmel’s opening monologue, just hours after the firing of Roseanne Barr from her show “Roseanne” following a tweet comparing Valerie Jarrett to an ape that many interpreted as racist (which Roseanne denies). (RELATED: ‘Roseanne’ Canceled; Why Not ‘The View’?).

Kimmel had an animal comparison himself when talking about Cruz’s appearance at a Houston Rockets game; “When Ted arrived at the Toyota Center, some of the fans mistakenly thought it was Grandpa Munster Bobblehead Night.  I mean, look at him. [Cheers and applause] He looks, and I’m not joking here, he looks like a blobfish.” Kimmel sarcastically blamed Cruz for causing the Rockets to lose that game.

That skit led to a reaction from Cruz last night – challenging Kimmel to a basketball game between the two of them, for charity. “All right, Big Guy…you talk a good game. You besmirched my support for the @HoustonRockets,” Cruz tweeted. “So let’s settle this man-to-man: one-on-one, hoops (or “ring-ball,” if you prefer). The loser gives $5k to the (non-political) charity of the winner’s choice.”

Kimmel accepted – with one condition, “we both wear VERY short shorts.”

Cruz reiterated that’s a sight nobody wants to see. “As Borat demonstrated conclusively, NOBODY wants to see that,” Cruz replied. “And ABC would probably be fined by the FCC! How ‘bout this: you dress yourself, I’ll do the same. Play to 10 (by ones), win by 2.”

There, unfortunately, isn’t any more public information on the charity match to-be, so we don’t know what month it’ll be planned for, or which charities the two will be representing. Cruz does play basketball regularly with other Senate Republicans and bears a striking resemblance to Duke University’s Grayson Allen.

Who will you be placing your bets on? Let us know in the comments section below!

Source: Houston Chronicle