US4 min(s) read
Published 10:56 28 Apr 2026 GMT
Jimmy Kimmel has pushed back after Melania Trump demanded ABC fire him over a joke about her being an "expectant widow".
The controversy erupted after a resurfaced clip from the 58-year-old's monologue on Thursday (April 23) drew backlash in the wake of Saturday night's (April 25) attack at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
During the sketch, the 58-year-old joked while pretending to host the dinner: "Of course, our first lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow."
The first lady blasted Kimmel's joke as "hateful and violent" in a post on X, writing: "His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America.
"People like Kimmel shouldn't have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate," she continued, branding the late-night host as a "coward" and declaring: "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[?]" she concluded.
President Trump piled on hours later via Truth Social, saying many Americans were "incensed by Kimmel’s" comments, which he called a "call to violence".
“[T]his is something far beyond the pale. Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC,” Trump wrote.
Kimmel addressed the controversy in his first monologue since the shooting.
He insisted the comment had been twisted out of context and was never intended as anything more than a joke about the president’s age.
"It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he's [President Trump] almost 80 and she's younger than I am," he explained.
"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."
He also hit back at the criticism by taking another swipe at the president: "I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I think a great place to start to dial that back is having a conversation with your husband about it."
Only days after Kimmel’s monologue, a gunman allegedly targeted members of the Trump administration at the Washington Hilton ballroom.
Trump and Melania were evacuated unharmed after 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen opened fire near a security checkpoint before being subdued by agents.
Allen appeared in court on Monday (April 27), charged with attempting to assassinate the president, along with weapons offenses.
He did not enter a plea, BBC News reported.
During a press conference after the shooting, the president revealed how his wife reacted to the attack, saying: "It’s always shocking when something like this happens.
"The fact that we were sitting next to each other, the First Lady on my right, and I heard a noise," which the couple thought was "either a tray or a bullet".
“I heard a noise and kinda thought it was a tray going down," he added.
He claimed Melania instantly recognized the sound as a "bad noise," and added that "it was a rather traumatic experience for her."
"Melania was very cognizant," he shared.
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