Jimmy Kimmel defends Melania ‘widow’ joke after the Trumps call for him to be fired

Jimmy Kimmel has refused to apologise for a joke made days before the White House correspondents’ dinner shooting in which he described Melania Trump as glowing “like an expectant widow”, after both Donald Trump and the first lady accused him of inciting violence.

On Monday Melania Trump accused Kimmel of “hateful and violent rhetoric” and “atrocious behavior”, and said it was “time for ABC to take a stand” against the comedian, who has long been critical of Trump and his policies.

The Jimmy Kimmel Live! host made the joke on Thursday, well before the Saturday attack on the White House correspondents’ dinner, during a skit in which the ABC host pretended to be the event’s MC.

“Our first lady Melania is here,” Kimmel said. “So beautiful, Mrs Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”

During his Monday night monologue, Kimmel responded to the Trumps, telling viewers: “You know how sometimes you wake up in the morning and the first lady puts out a statement demanding you be fired from your job? We’ve all been there, right?”

Kimmel pointed out he made the joke three days before the alleged assassination attempt. “Obviously, it was a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they’re together,” he said. “It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am. 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,” he continued. “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. Donald Trump is allowed to say whatever he wants to say, as are you and as am I. Because under the First Amendment, we have, as Americans, a right to free speech.”

Kimmel said he felt “sorry” for everyone at the dinner, saying: “Just because no one got killed doesn’t mean it wasn’t traumatic and scary, and we should come together. We really should.”

“But,” he added, “if you want us to believe that a joke I made three days before this dinner had any effect on anything that happened, well then, maybe someone should look into this psychic lady too.” He then played a clip of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying “there will be some shots fired tonight”, before the dinner began.

Melania Trump’s criticism follows an episode last September where ABC suspended Kimmel after Brendan Carr, the pro-Trump chair of the Federal Communications Commission, threatened the network for jokes the comedian made about the president. The incident sparked an uproar amid allegations that Carr was attacking the constitutional right to free speech, and ABC later brought Kimmel back on air.

In her post on X, Melania Trump wrote: “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. 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. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.”

Donald Trump weighed in a few hours later in a Truth Social post, recounting Kimmel’s speech and the first lady’s post. “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,” he posted.

The Trumps’ call for Kimmel’s ouster comes as critics of the Trump administration highlight the violent rhetoric from the White House and from the president over the years, including when he called on a crowd to “knock the crap out” of protesters and urged supporters to “fight like hell” after his 2020 election defeat.

Meanwhile, some other Republicans also weighed in on Kimmel both before and after the post. “I am so deeply sick of Jimmy Kimmel and the hate he spreads in the world,” Meghan McCain said in a post on X.

The Guardian wp:paragraph