NEW<\/span>You can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n After being scorned on social media, “Dirty Jobs” television show veteran Mike Rowe doubled down on his criticism of Jimmy Kimmel<\/a>\u2019s “tone deaf” monologues mocking new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin for being a former plumber.<\/p>\n Rowe said he had not noticed his post about late-night host Kimmel<\/a> “belittling plumbers” had gone viral because he had been too busy working.<\/p>\n “I want to apologize for not responding to any of the 22 thousand comments my last post inspired,” he wrote. “I\u2019ve been filming all week and just noticed my observations about Jimmy Kimmel and a former plumber named Markwayne Mullin<\/a> have gone viral.”<\/p>\n Rowe said that Kimmel\u2019s 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.”<\/p>\n LATE-NIGHT HOST JIMMY KIMMEL SHOWS UP TO ‘NO KINGS’ PROTEST WITH KIDS, HOLDS ‘ENOUGH ALREADY’ SIGN<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n “I did not suggest \u2013 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.”<\/p>\n Mike Rowe said he took offense at Jimmy Kimmel bashing new Department of Homeland Security head Markwayne Mullin for being a former plumber.<\/span> (Michael Buckner\/WireImage; Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Kimmel, a regular critic of the Trump administration<\/a>, was recently criticized as elitist for using Mullin\u2019s prior experience as a plumbing business owner as evidence that he is unqualified to lead the Department of Homeland Security.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Trump’s got a whole new generation of thinkers lined up, including his newly confirmed secretary of Homeland Security<\/a>, Markwayne \u2018Chuck Mike Bruce Dave\u2019 Melon \u2014 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?”<\/p>\n He continued, “But honestly \u2014 I mean, if Trump is going to keep picking these unqualified people to run the department, why not have more fun with it? I mean, next time, instead of Markwayne, how about Lil Wayne for Homeland Security? At least we can get a concert out of it, right?”<\/p>\n Kimmel later doubled down, saying, “I\u2019m not upset that the head of Homeland Security used to be a plumber. I\u2019m upset that he isn\u2019t still a plumber.”<\/p>\n JIMMY KIMMEL REFUSES TO BACK DOWN AFTER MOCKING SECRETARY MULLIN OVER PLUMBING BACKGROUND<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Mike Rowe said that digs at Markwayne Mullin, right, for being a former plumber evidence “longstanding stigmas and stereotypes” against blue-collar skilled trade workers.\u00a0<\/span> (Photo by Jim WATSON \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Rowe had ripped late-night host Kimmel for the dig, saying he took offense at the “suggestion that skilled workers should never evolve into something new.”\u00a0<\/p>\n He asked if Mullin\u2019s career progression from plumbing business owner to Congress and then to a top Cabinet official is “not the embodiment of the American Dream?”<\/p>\n On Friday, he wrote that stereotypes reinforced by jokes like Kimmel\u2019s are contributing to a critical shortage of American skilled laborers.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Reasonable people can disagree as to what is funny and what isn\u2019t. Frankly, I couldn\u2019t care less. What I do care about,” he wrote, “is the extraordinary shortage of plumbers and electricians our country is facing, and the longstanding stigmas and stereotypes that continue to discourage people from considering a lucrative career in the skilled trades.”<\/p>\n “Jimmy\u2019s joke \u2013 and his audience\u2019s reaction to it,” wrote Rowe, “is proof positive that those stigmas and stereotypes are alive and well.”<\/p>\n![\"Donald](\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1200\/675\/trump-and-mullin.jpg?ve=1&tl=1\")
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