Mike Rowe doubles down after blasting Kimmel’s ‘tone-deaf’ plumber jokes

By Fox News · Fox News

After being scorned on social media, "Dirty Jobs" television show veteran Mike Rowe doubled down on his criticism of Jimmy Kimmel ’s "tone deaf" monologues mocking new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin for being a former plumber. Rowe said he had not noticed his post about late-night host Kimmel "belittling plumbers" had gone viral because he had been too busy working. "I want to apologize for not responding to any of the 22 thousand comments my last post inspired," he wrote. "I’ve been filming all week and just noticed my observations about Jimmy Kimmel and a former plumber named Markwayne Mullin have gone viral." Rowe said that Kimmel’s digs at Mullin for being a former plumber are evidence of "longstanding stigmas and stereotypes" against blue-collar skilled trade workers as "uneducated, one-dimensional workers who never made it to college." LATE-NIGHT HOST JIMMY KIMMEL SHOWS UP TO 'NO KINGS' PROTEST WITH KIDS, HOLDS 'ENOUGH ALREADY' SIGN "I did not suggest – even remotely - that a plumber was inherently qualified to hold a cabinet position," he wrote on X. "What I said was that being a plumber should not disqualify a person from holding such a position." Kimmel, a regular critic of the Trump administration , was recently criticized as elitist for using Mullin’s prior experience as a plumbing business owner as evidence that he is unqualified to lead the Department of Homeland Security. "Trump's got a whole new generation of thinkers lined up, including his newly confirmed secretary of Homeland Security , Markwayne ‘Chuck Mike Bruce Dave’ Melon — Mullin. Maybe Melon's better," Kimmel said on air March 24. "He's the now former senator of Oklahoma. Before he was elected to the Senate, Markwayne Mullin was a low-level MMA fighter and a plumber. That's right. We have a plumber protecting us from terrorism now. It worked for Super Mario. Why not Markwayne?" He continued, "But honestly — I mean, if Trump is going to keep picking these unqualified people to r…