Jimmy Kimmel has broken his silence over President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump demanding his firing from his late-night show.
“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, 58, joked in his Jimmy Kimmel Live! monologue on Monday, April 27.
Controversy arose following a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday, April 25, where a Secret Service agent was injured. The president, first lady and members of the cabinet were safely evaluated from the Washington Hilton ballroom, while authorities captured suspected shooter Cole Tomas Allen.
(On Monday, Allen was charged with “one count of attempt to assassinate the President of the United States, transportation of a firearm and ammunition in interstate commerce with intent to commit a felony, and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence,” per the Justice Department. Allen has not yet entered a plea.)
The comments the Trumps took issue with were made on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday, April 23 — two days before the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. As part of a 10-minute roast of the president, Kimmel joked that Melania had a “glow like an expectant widow.”
Kimmel later teased that Melania would celebrate her 56th birthday on Sunday, April 26, “the same way she always does — looking out a window and whispering, ‘What have I done?’”
Following the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting, Melania released a statement accusing Kimmel of “hateful and violent rhetoric” that “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 insisted. “People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.”
Kimmel stressed during his monologue on Monday that his reference to Melania, 56, being an “expectant widow” was a simple joke about the age gap in her marriage.
“This was Thursday. There was no big reaction to it, until this morning, when I greeted the day facing yet another Twitter vomit storm and a call to fire me from our first lady, Melania Trump, saying I should be fired because of a joke I made, again, five nights ago. It was a pretend roast,” he pointed out.
The Jimmy Kimmel Live! host went on, “It obviously was a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they’re together. 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, but I understand that the first lady had a stressful experience over the weekend, and probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house.”
Kimmel outright rejected Melania’s accusation that he’d contributed to “hateful and violent rhetoric” with his joke last Thursday.
“I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it,” he quipped.
Kimmel then more seriously told Melania, “I am sorry that you, and the president and everyone in that room went through that. I really am. Just because no-one got killed doesn’t mean it was not traumatic and scary. We should come together and be best.”
Us Weekly has reached out to the White House for comment.
Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump on April 27. Getty Images/AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool
On Monday, Donald, 79, took the matter one step further than the first lady by calling for ABC to fire Kimmel from his late-night show.
“Wow, Jimmy Kimmel, who is in no way funny as attested to by his terrible Television Ratings, made a statement on his show that is really shocking,” the president shared via his Truth Social on Monday. “He showed a fake video of the First Lady, Melania, and our son, Barron, like they were actually sitting in his studio, listening to him speak, which they weren’t, and never would be. He then stated, ‘Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.’”
The president went on, “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. 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. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Kimmel was briefly suspended by ABC last September following comments he made on air following the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Numerous Hollywood stars and fans mounted a campaign in his defense and he eventually returned to the airwaves. (He later signed a one-year contract extension with ABC.)
Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs weeknights on ABC.
