A joke about Melania Trump told by late-night host Jimmy Kimmel has received a fiery response from Donald Trump. The president is now calling for Disney and ABC to fire Kimmel, following jokes made on the comedian’s show just days before a shooting happened at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Donald Trump has a message for Jimmy Kimmel
President Donald Trump posted his demand on Truth Social, writing that Jimmy Kimmel should be “immediately fired” over what he characterized as a “call to violence.” The statement followed a rare public rebuke from Melania Trump, who condemned the host’s words as dangerous.
The controversy stems from a segment that aired on the show last Thursday. Acknowledging that the White House Correspondents’ Dinner would feature mentalist Oz Pearlman instead of a stand-up comedian this year, Kimmel created a mock version of the event. He joked that he was taking “a page from the Kid Rock alternative half-time show.” During this skit, Kimmel referred to Melania Trump, describing her as having a “glow like an expectant widow.”
Trump seized on that specific line. “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,” he wrote. Melania Trump echoed that sentiment in her own social media statement. “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,” she posted.
She argued that ABC bears responsibility, urging the network to “take a stand.” She added, “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.”
The network has not yet issued a public response to the Trumps’ statements.
