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 wants to clarify that he doesn’t have “superpowers” after one of his recent jokes took on new meaning.
The comedian responded to backlash for making a joke about Rudy Giuliani on his late-night show, days before the former New York City mayor was reportedly hospitalized in “serious but stable condition.”
Kimmel joked in his April 28 monologue that Giuliani “rose from the grave” before playing footage of him. Less than a week later, on May 3, a spokesperson confirmed that Mr. Giuliani had been hospitalized. Some of Kimmel’s critics brought up the joke again during Giuliani’s hospitalization, with conservative commentator Benny Johnson posting it on X and asking, “Why does Kimmel always make jokes about death?”
Kimmel addressed the resurfaced comments in his May 4 monologue.
“When I read this (about Giuliani), I really thought, ‘Are they going to try to blame this on me?'” he said. “And sure enough, one of the dudes on the podcast pointed out the joke I made about Rudy on Thursday about him being a vampire and suggested that I might actually have inside information about what’s going on in Trumptown, and it became a reality.”
Kimmel went on to sarcastically joke about his supposed “superpower,” saying, “Every day I wake up and make coffee, and then I look into the future and see what events haven’t happened yet, and then I write jokes that I know are going to get in trouble.”
On a more serious note, Kimmel said he hopes Giuliani “lives another 100 years.” The former mayor is recovering from pneumonia, his spokesperson announced on May 4.
The Giuliani joke resurfaced after President Donald Trump called for the firing of the late-night host who jokingly referred to first lady Melania Trump as a “widow” on his April 23 show. Kimmel made the comment two days before the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner where a suspect was arrested and charged with attempting to assassinate President Trump.
After the dinner, Kimmel’s “pregnant widow” comment resurfaced, and Trump accused Kimmel of making “despicable calls for violence.”
Kimmel defended the comment as “a very light joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 years old and she’s younger than me,” adding, “It’s not a call for assassination by any stretch of the imagination, and they know that.” But President Trump did not give up, and on April 30, ABC posted on Truth Social that Kimmel “should be fired immediately.” There’s no indication that the Disney-owned network intends to do so.
