Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel responded Monday to President Donald Trump’s call for his firing over his joke about first lady Melania Trump being an “expectant widow.”
Kimmel made the joke during a Thursday episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” just two days before the attempted assassination at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, leading both Trump and Melania to call on Kimmel to face consequences. Kimmel maintained that his joke referred to their age gap, not violence.
“I said, ‘our first lady Melania’s here. Look at her. So beautiful, Mrs. Trump. You have a glow like an expectant widow,’ which obviously was a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they’re together,” Kimmel said. “It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am.”
The first lady, who turned 56 Sunday, is 24 years younger than her husband — who celebrates his 80th birthday in June — and three years younger than Kimmel.
“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, but I understand that the first lady had a stressful experience over the weekend and probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house,” the comedian added.
“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,” he continued.
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Mrs. Trump stated ABC should “take a stand” against Kimmel’s rhetoric, which she called “hateful and violent.”
“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country,” the first lady wrote Monday on X. “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.”
“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,” she continued. “How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.”
The president called Kimmel’s joke about his wife “far beyond the pale” and urged ABC and its parent company, Disney, to fire him.
“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “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.”
Two days after the joke, an attempted assassin fired shots inside the Washington Hilton where the prestigious event was being held. Authorities identified the alleged assailant as 31-year-old Cole Allen, who was charged with an attempted assassination charge that could lead to life imprisonment.
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