Jimmy Kimmel is responding to calls from Donald and Melania Trump for him to be fired by Disney and ABC. The President and the First Lady of the United States posted separate statements on social media condemning Kimmel for a joke he made at Melania’s expense on the Thursday, April 23 episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” which featured a mock White House Correspondents Dinner hosted by Kimmel. The host quipped during the sketch that Melania had the glow of an “expectant widow,” which ignited outrage among Trump and his MAGA base a few days later when the real White House Correspondents Dinner on April 25 came to an abrupt end due to a shooter.
“You know how sometimes you wake up in the morning and the First Lady puts out a statement demanding you be fired from your job?” Kimmel said at the top of Monday night’s episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” “We’ve all been there. Right?”
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The late-night host then explained his “expectant widow” jab was “a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on [Melania’s] face” every time the First Lady and the President are together, and was by no means a call for violence.
“It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am. It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination. And they know that,” Kimmel said. “I’ve been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence, in particular. But I understand that the First Lady had a stressful experience over the weekend. And probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house. And also, I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do. And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.”
“Jimmy Kimmel, who is in no way funny as attested to by his terrible Television Ratings, made a statement on his Show that is really shocking,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “He showed a fake video of the First Lady, Melania, and our son, Barron, like they were actually sitting in his studio, listening to him speak, which they weren’t, and never would be. He then stated, ‘Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.’ A day later, a lunatic tried entering the ballroom of the White House Correspondents Dinner, loaded up with a shotgun, handgun, and many knives. He was there for a very obvious and sinister reason. I appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel’s despicable call to violence… Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”
Donald and Melania Trump and many other White House administration officials were quickly evacuated from the White House Correspondent Dinner as the shooter was tackled by law enforcement on a different floor inside the venue. The suspected shooter, Cole Tomas Allen, has charged with attempting to assassinate Donald Trump, per NBC News.
“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country. His monologue about my family isn’t comedy — his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America,” Melania Trump posted on X hours before her husband’s own post.
People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate,” Melania continued. “A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him. Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.”