Jimmy Kimmel responds to Melania Trump and the president’s criticism
Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel responded to Melania Trump’s criticism after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Jimmy Kimmel isn’t backing down.
On April 28, a late-night TV host mocked President Donald Trump’s calls to fire him for jokingly calling First Lady Melania Trump a “pregnant widow” on his show last week. He also suggested that President Trump had made a very similar joke about himself and accused the president of hypocrisy.
In his latest monologue, Kimmel showed footage of President Trump welcoming Charles III, noting that his parents had been married for 63 years, and telling the first lady that he didn’t think he would live much longer than that. “This is a record we will never be able to match,” Trump said. The president and first lady have been married for 21 years.
“Wait a minute. Was he just joking about his own death?” Kimmel asked. “He should be fired for that! Only Donald Trump would fire me for making a joke about his own retirement and then go out the next day and make a joke about his own retirement!”
Continuing his monologue, Kimmel dismissed the “ridiculous” people who were making what he called “a big deal out of this joke.”
When asked for comment, the White House pointed to communications director Stephen Chan’s x post, criticizing Kimmel for “making an offensive joke about the president’s assassination” and “doubling down on that joke without a proper apology.”
Kimmel gave a fake White House Correspondents Association dinner speech on his April 23 show in advance of events scheduled for that weekend. In a sketch made to look like Kimmel was performing at an upcoming dinner party, the comedian joked, “Mrs. Trump, you have the glow of a pregnant widow.”
The comment initially garnered little attention, but days later, after a gunman opened fire at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, Kimmel’s critics resurfaced the joke, accusing him of advocating violence against the president.
First lady Melania Trump, in a post from the Government President Donald Trump was more direct, posting on Truth Social that “Jimmy Kimmel should be fired by Disney and ABC immediately.”
This was just the latest example of the Trump administration calling on ABC to fire Kimmel, who has been a vocal critic of the president. In September, ABC controversially suspended the comedian for several days after facing pressure from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr over his comments after Charlie Kirk’s murder.
The decision drew heavy criticism of ABC and Carr, with critics arguing that the Trump administration was trying to censor free expression and that the Disney-owned network had unfairly caved in. Even many Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz, shared free speech concerns.
“It’s incredibly dangerous for the government to take the position of saying we get to decide what speech we like and what we don’t like, and if we don’t like what’s being said, we’re going to threaten to take it off the air,” Cruz said at the time.
Disney eventually brought Kimmel back on the air, and he has continued his scathing criticism of Trump on his show ever since.
Kimmel defends ‘pregnant widow’ joke after Trump demands firing
In a sharp contrast to previous controversies, Disney, which has been under new CEO Josh D’Amaro for just over a month, appears to be backing Kimmel from the get-go.
The comedian was able to return to the airwaves as scheduled on April 27 as he defended his jokes and argued that critics had intentionally misinterpreted them. Kimmel said the “pregnant widow” quip referred to the age difference between the 79-year-old president and the 56-year-old first lady.
“It was a very light joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 years old and she’s younger than me,” he said. “It’s not a call for assassination by any stretch of the imagination, and they know that.”
He went on to tell the first lady, “I agree, I agree, that hateful and violent rhetoric should be rejected. And I think the best way to reverse it is to talk to your husband about it.”
Kimmel’s April 28 monologue did not mention the fact that his joke may be sparking a fight between Disney and the FCC.
Earlier, the agency issued an order saying it was “investigating” Disney and its subsidiaries for “possible violations of the Communications Act of 1934 and FCC rules, including the agency’s prohibition on unlawful discrimination.”
Contributors: BrieAnna J. Frank and Joey Garrison
