Donald Trump weighed in on one of late-night television’s controversial monologues this week, escalating a feud that has now drawn in the First Lady. The President and Melania Trump separately took aim at Jimmy Kimmel over a recent joke, with both calling on his network to take swift action.
Donald Trump criticizes Jimmy Kimmel after controversial joke
Donald Trump has called on Disney and ABC to terminate Jimmy Kimmel following a joke the late-night host directed at First Lady Melania Trump, according to a Truth Social post. The President labelled the bit a “despicable call to violence.”
Trump shared his statement hours after Melania urged ABC to “take a stand” against Kimmel through an X (formerly Twitter) post.
Kimmel mocked the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Jimmy Kimmel Live! a few days ahead of the actual event. During the bit, the host displayed a fabricated video showing Melania and Barron Trump in his studio audience. Kimmel then quipped, “Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”
Trump claimed the joke preceded a security incident at the real dinner. “A day later, a lunatic tried entering the ballroom of the White House Correspondents Dinner, loaded up with a shotgun, handgun, and many knives,” Trump wrote. He added, “Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”
Subsequently, Melania Trump shared her own condemnation through a lengthy X post. “Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country. His monologue about my family isn’t comedy,” she wrote. The First Lady accused the host of hiding behind ABC and called him a “coward.”
Officers evacuated Donald and Melania Trump from the Correspondents’ Dinner after gunfire rang out near the venue. Law enforcement tackled the shooter on a different floor of the building. Trump wants to reschedule the event within a month. Meanwhile, ABC pulled Kimmel off the air for around a week in September 2025 over comments about Charlie Kirk’s shooting death.
Representatives for Kimmel and ABC have not publicly responded to the demands to fire.
Originally reported by Anubhav Chaudhry on ComingSoon.
