Chuck Lorre Pulls No Punches in Politically Charged Speech Aimed at President Trump, “Far-Left Woke Culture” and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

When Chuck Lorre‘s daughter, Nikki, fielded a phone call from her famous father to ask if she’d be up for presenting him with a founders award at a Project Angel Food fundraiser, she was “obviously beyond honored and humbled.” Then, the man responsible for countless laughs and thousands of hours of television comedies, started pitching his daughter jokes for the tribute. However, she ultimately passed on taking any of his punchlines. “I’m not really going to come up here and be his warm-up act. His speech is going to be hilarious. It’s going to kill, and I don’t really want to compete with that,” Nikki Lorre explained Saturday night while standing on a stage mounted in a parking lot at Project Angel Food’s Los Angeles headquarters, now known as the Chuck Lorre Family Foundation Campus after his sizable donation to the organization. It was the first indication that the words to come from Chuck Lorre would not be a typical gala speech. When the super producer and prolific philanthropist took the stage moments later, he started with a “preamble” during which he thanked some important people in his life, including his TV director daughter by saying “nepo baby, my ass — she’s the real deal.” He then launched into the meaty part that was quickly revealed to be politically-charged and aimed at multiple targets on both sides of the aisle from President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump to the “suicidal insanity of the far-left woke culture.” He also took a slight jab at Warner Bros., the high-profile Hollywood studio that has been his home for decades. “In writing and producing comedy, there’s an unspoken expectation that any speech I give will be funny, or at least try to be funny. As you can imagine, that puts a lot of pressure on me. Your laughter or lack thereof becomes inextricably tied up with my self-esteem,” explained Lorre, 73, in front of an audience that included his UTA agent, Jay Sures, senior executives from Warner Bros. and HBO, and creatives from his current shows George & Mandy’s First Marriage and Stuart Fails to Save the Universe. “Sure, I’d love to stand here and talk about my deep yearning for a more compassionate government, one that prioritizes the health and welfare of its citizens. But the burden of my profession demands that I take this opportunity to say a few words about that bloated orange piece of shit in the White House.” Once he got the Trump dig out, the audience erupted with laughter and Lorre expressed his relief. “OK, I do have the right audience,” he said as he scanned the crowd. “I’d love to express my gratitude to all the people who’ve devoted their lives to making Project Angel Food an oasis for those in need. That would be my preference. But because I’m a comedy writer, I have no choice but to explain how I wake up every morning to turn on CNN to see if the President of the United States had a heart attack while straining to take a dump.” He continued: “I’d love to encourage you to pull out your wallets and contribute to this amazing organization, but my need to cause laughter forces me to question how a country can embrace a smart, educated, warm, funny first lady like Michelle Obama and somehow be OK with a surgically-enhanced, cold-hearted Yugoslavian escort who clearly hates her husband.” Then came the far-left comment. “I’d like to beg the [Democratic National Committee] to run from the suicidal insanity of the far-left woke culture in the coming election, [and] urge them to seek the common sense middle ground that emanates from the hard-working, blue-collar heart and soul of America. You bet I would. But once again, it’s not funny. So, I’ll just point out those hard workers will likely die of measles because Bobby Kennedy told them not to get vaccinated.” When Lorre delivered that last punchline, he dropped his tone and made his voice sound as gravelly as possible to poke fun at Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services. “I actually practiced that,” Lorre quipped. Earlier in his remarks, he singled out the late Bob Broder, who worked as an agent, attorney and executive at Chuck Lorre Productions. “Bob made sure that Warner Bros. only stole a little money from me, thus allowing me to give a lot away. I shouldn’t say stole. That’s not fair. I should say bullshit overhead and distribution charges,” he said, standing just feet away from a table occupied by top WB studio executives Brett Paul, Channing Dungey and Clancy Collins White. Attendees at the event received a copy of Lorre’s new memoir, Sitcom, weeks ahead of its release from Dey Street Books (an imprint of HarperCollins) on Oct. 13. “If you happen to be mentioned in the book and you take issue with my recall of events, I recommend you write your own fucking book,” Lorre also said. He ended the rousing speech with a new rendition, or as he called it “a small punch-up,” of the Serenity Prayer, a vital mantra of 12-step recovery programs. (Lorre is sober, and open about his decades-long recovery.) “God, grant me the serenity to no longer give a shit about all the stupid people in this country, the courage to say Donald Trump is a Russian asset who traded teenagers with Jeffrey Epstein, and the wisdom to end on a cheap laugh,” he said. “Thank you very much.” After that, Lorre then said he had the honor of introducing the big finale — an electric set from Barenaked Ladies, an iconic band whose fame reached new heights after being drafted by Lorre to pen the theme song for The Big Bang Theory, a sitcom that went on to become a blockbuster success. Lead singer Ed Robertson explained the enviable gig during their set: “We had sold a lot of records, we had hits all over the world, we built a fan base and worked really hard and then I wrote a 28-second song that changed the entire trajectory of our career. Thank you Chuck and Bill [Prady] for changing our lives.” Lorre has also changed the trajectory of Project Angel Food as he’s credited with delivering the largest gift in the organization’s history, which helped create the $55.5 million Chuck Lorre Family Foundation kitchen and campus, which is preparing to break ground on a second building. His support has also allowed Project Angel Food to triple its annual meal-production capacity from 1.5 million to more than 4.5 million medically-tailored meals. See more from inside Saturday’s fundraiser below. Lorre, Project Angel Food’s Richard Ayoub, Chuck Lorre Family Foundation president and chief giving officer Trisha Cardoso, and UTA’s Jay Sures. Ayoub announced during the event that the fundraiser netted north of $1 million for the organization, which will be used to carry on its mission of nourishing individuals facing critical and life-threatening illnesses by preparing and delivering medically tailored meals with “love, care and dignity.” (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Project Angel Food) Nikki Lorre speaks during the tribute to her father. “Over the course of my life, I’ve had the privilege of getting to watch my dad become this comedy icon. I’ve seen him take his skill and determination and build a literal empire, but I know, or at least it’s been told to me time and time again, that the inspiration for this career wasn’t to achieve greatness or even become wildly wealthy. It was to ensure that my brother and I had health insurance,” she said. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Project Angel Food) Lorre with his founders award trophy, an honor presented twice in the organization’s history. The last presentation came in 2014, when it was given to Project Angel Food founder Marianne Williamson. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Project Angel Food) Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, Jim Creeggan and Tyler Stewart of Barenaked Ladies perform during their set, which included “One Week,” “Pinch Me,” and “The History of Everything,” the theme song to Lorre’s Big Bang Theory. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Project Angel Food) Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies flashes a peace sign. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Project Angel Food) Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, Jim Creeggan and Tyler Stewart of Barenaked Ladies (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Project Angel Food) Loni Love, Caroline Rhea and Richard Ayoub, CEO, Project Angel Food are seen onstage. Love hosted the entire affair while Rhea handled the live-auction portion of the evening that included tickets to a Giorgio Armani Oscar weekend party, a 2027 Dodgers VIP game day experience, and a South Africa and Victoria Falls Safari Adventure (that went to Sheryl Lee Ralph). Guests also had the opportunity to donate $1,000 to enter a sweepstakes for an exclusive “Date Night for a Year” experience from top Beverly Hills, Calif. restaurant Steak 48. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Project Angel Food) “You have gracefully walked me through the mean streets of philanthropy, showing me how to turn money into hope. You’re also responsible for slapping my name on so many buildings that I’ve been getting prank phone calls from Haim Saban,” Lorre said of Cardoso, pictured here. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Project Angel Food) Brett Paul, president of Warner Bros. Television Group and chief operating officer of U.S. Networks Group at Warner Bros. Discovery, Brett Paul, WBTV chairman and CEO Channing Dungey, Lorre and WBTV executive vp of creative affairs Clancy Collins White. Christopher Polk/Polk Imaging for Penske Media Jayne Gelon and Steve Gelon on the blue carpet. “I want to thank my longtime friend, [certified public accountant], and business manager, Steve Gelon,” Lorre said during his remarks. “Thirty years ago, Steve patiently explained to me what a charitable deduction was. The truth is he explains it to me every year, usually in the form of a question: Chuck, would you rather your hard earned income go towards buying a cruise missile or build an industrial sized kitchen to feed people?” (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Project Angel Food) Sheryl Lee Ralph and William Stanford Davis (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Project Angel Food) Stuart Fails to Save the Universe team of Bill Prady, Zak Penn, Kevin Sussman, Lorre, John Ross Bowie and Lauren Lapkus. Prady says that Lorre’s influence on the lives of those closest to him extends beyond the sets they share: “In the 35 years that I’ve known Chuck, our family has hit some bumps in the road every now and then, and when that happens, my first call is to Chuck. It’s a call to Chuck, first of all, because he’ll have some very sane measured advice, but also he has helped us find resources.” (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Project Angel Food) Caroline Rhea and Loni Love (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Project Angel Food) George & Mandy’s First Marriage star Will Sasso and CBS Entertainment president Amy Reisenbach Christopher Polk/Polk Imaging for Penske Media Lorre and Dungey Christopher Polk/Polk Imaging for Penske Media Lorre and Ralph Christopher Polk/Polk Imaging for Penske Media