Rosie O’Donnell is stuck outside the US for a good long while. Customs officials have found out that the comedian slipped into the country this summer to fill in on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” for a week. The problem, according to federal prosecutors, is how she got here.
“She entered America by boat from Nova Scotia to Maine without any documents and hence was illegally in the country,” said Alex Bruno, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Maine. “She is not allowed to enter any port in America anymore.”
According to people familiar with the case, O’Donnell crossed the Gulf of Maine on a private boat in late July. She landed at a small harbor town, was picked up by a car, and made her way to Los Angeles, where she spent a week behind Kimmel’s desk while the host was on vacation. The episodes aired as normal. Nobody thought to ask how she got there.
That changed when immigration officials began reviewing travel records from the summer. There was no entry stamp, no border crossing, and no flight. Someone at Customs and Border Protection started asking questions, and the trail led back to a dock in Maine.
The reason she had no documents is no secret. O’Donnell moved to Ireland after the 2024 election and made a big show of it. She later announced online that she had renounced her American citizenship, and she posted a video of herself destroying her US passport. Fans cheered. Critics rolled their eyes.
At the time, it looked like a grand gesture. Now it looks like a very expensive mistake.
“When you give up your citizenship, you become a foreign national like anyone else,” said one immigration attorney. “You can’t just show up on a boat because you have a guest-hosting gig.”
Bruno said his office is treating the case like any other illegal entry. O’Donnell has been placed on a list that bars her from entering the country through any port, by land, sea, or air.
“The law doesn’t care how famous you are,” Bruno said. Her situation in Ireland isn’t looking much better. O’Donnell has been living there on a temporary basis, and Irish officials have made it clear that long-term residence isn’t automatic. Without a job offer, special skills, or family ties, the path to staying permanently is narrow.
“She thought Ireland would take her in forever,” one person close to the situation said. “It doesn’t work like that. Ireland has rules too.”
Kimmel’s show has not commented. A spokesperson for ABC said only that guest hosts are responsible for their own travel arrangements.
O’Donnell posted a brief message online calling the ban “political” and saying she was “being punished for speaking out.” Her fans rallied behind her in the comments. Many others pointed out that she was the one who tore up her passport in the first place.
Now she’s a woman without a country, and soon maybe without a home. No skill, no country.