Lawmaker Pulls Welcome Mat After Jelly Roll's Trump Jokes

Jelly Roll's latest late-night stint has earned him one "a Southern man don't need him around, anyhow" from a Florida legislator. Republican state Rep. Jimmy Patronis posted on X that the star, born Jason DeFord, is "100% not welcomed in the Panhandle" after the musician mocked President Trump's weight while guest-hosting Monday night's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! Jelly Roll joked he'd lost "an entire Donald Trump" in weight himself and, "from one fat pig to another," urged Trump to get fit, the Hill reports.

Patronis blasted him as a "loser" with "Trump derangement syndrome" and said he doesn't even want to see the singer's tour bus on I-10. On Tuesday's show, Jelly Roll shrugged off the backlash, saying, "Any US president should be able to handle a few jokes, right?" The tone of Patronis' attack evoked the response to Neil Young's 1971 song "Southern Man," which ripped the South over slavery and civil rights—altogether weightier issues. The group Lynyrd Skynyrd answered with its disinvitation in the song, "Sweet Home Alabama," which singer Ronnie Van Zant once elaborated on here in an interview with NPR.