Key Points
Jimmy Kimmel has reacted to Melania and Donald Trump’s social media posts about his recent Trump roast.
Kimmel said that the first lady had “a glow like an expectant widow” in his “alternative White House Correspondents’ Dinner” monologue.
The Trumps want ABC to fire Kimmel.
Jimmy Kimmel is clapping back at Melania and Donald Trump‘s own clap-backs at the late-night host, demanding ABC kick him to the curb.
“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 joked at the start of Monday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live.
At issue is the “alternative” White House Correspondents’ Dinner Kimmel staged on Thursday night’s show. Responding to the White House Correspondent’s Association breaking with tradition and not hiring a comedian to poke fun at the president and his administration at its annual fundraising dinner, Kimmel performed a mock roast, juxtaposed with “reactions” pulled from stock footage of the Trumps, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vanilla Ice, Dog the Bounty Hunter, and more. Among the jokes was one about the first lady having “a glow like an expectant widow.”
Two days later, the actual correspondents dinner was interrupted when an alleged gunman opened fire at the Washington Hilton, where the event was being held.
Before Monday’s new Kimmel Live, the first lady spoke out against the late-night host’s “hateful and violent rhetoric” and demanded that ABC “take a stand.”
“His words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America,” she wrote on social media. “People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate. 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.”
But Kimmel shrugged off Melania’s incensed rhetoric during Monday’s monologue, sharing his gratitude that “no one was hurt” at the Correspondents’ Dinner, “thank goodness,” and offering an explanation for his “widow” joke.
The remark was “obviously was a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they’re together,” he said sardonically. “It was a very light roast joke about the fact that [Trump] is 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 I’ve been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence in particular.”
Kimmel then noted where he shared common ground with Melania, stating, “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.”
“I am sorry that you and the president and everyone in that room on Saturday went through that. I really am. Just because no one get got killed doesn’t mean it wasn’t traumatic and scary,” Kimmel continued. “We should come together and be best. We really should. But if you want us to believe that a joke I made 3 days before this dinner had any effect on anything that happened, well then maybe someone should look into this psychic lady, too.”
Kimmel then called attention to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt joking that “there will be some shots fired” ahead of the Correspondents’ Dinner. “You know who’s going to be furious when she hears that?” Kimmel joked.
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Melania wasn’t the only Trump to call for Kimmel’s firing in the wake of his “widow” joke.
“Wow, 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,” Donald Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday. “I appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel’s despicable call to violence, and normally would not be responsive to anything that he said but, this is something far beyond the pale. Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”
Last September, ABC temporarily suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live after Kimmel made comments about the “MAGA gang” while discussing Charlie Kirk’s assassination. The move came as FCC chairman Brendan Carr encouraged ABC and parent company Disney to take action. Within a week, Kimmel was back on the air.
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