In what may be the biggest – or most embarrassing -- basketball event of the season, Sen. Ted Cruz and Jimmy Kimmel will face off Saturday in a grudge match for charity to determine who is better at hoops.
"Bigger than the NBA Finals, bigger than the Stanley Cup. On Saturday, I will fly to Texas — on a plane! — to play Sen. Ted Cruz — in a game of one-on-one basketball," Kimmel said Monday on his ABC late-night talk show.
"This will be Ted Cruz’s second-most embarrassing loss to a TV host in recent memory," Kimmel added, referring to the Texas Republican’s loss to Donald Trump for the GOP presidential nomination.
He added: "If there's anyone you want to have a beef with, it's Ted Cruz. This is a guy who, during the election, Donald Trump insinuated that his wife was ugly and that his dad helped kill JFK, so what did Ted do to retaliate? He endorsed Donald Trump for president. That's right, this is a man whose motto is, 'If you can't beat them, throw away your dignity and grovel before them like a hungry dog.'"
Last month, Cruz challenged Kimmel to go one-to-one in basketball for charity after the comic compared Cruz to a blobfish, a deep-sea creature that resembles a gelatinous mass.
"All right, Big Guy...you talk a good game … let’s settle this man-to-man: one-on-one, hoops," Cruz said on Twitter.
At first, Kimmel insisted on both men wearing "VERY short shorts" on the court, but Cruz put the kibosh on that idea, insisting, "as Borat demonstrated conclusively, NOBODY wants to see that. And ABC would probably be fined by the FCC!"
The Blobfish Basketball Classic will take place at Texas Southern University. Proceeds will benefit the Texas Children's Hospital and Generation One, an education non-profit.
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