Jimmy Kimmel has responded to the mixed reactions following his latest “roast” of President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania.
The talk show host has a long history of back-and-forth with the Trumps, so it was no surprise when he took the opportunity to make a joke at Melania’s expense during last week’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday.
“Our First Lady, Melania, is here,” Kimmel said at the time. “Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”
The comedian’s comments, of course, came just days before the alleged assassination attempt on Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
The incident, which unfolded inside the ballroom of the Washington Hilton Hotel on Saturday, April 25, involved a lone gunman—later identified as 31-year-old Cole Thomas Allen—who allegedly tried to breach a security checkpoint while carrying several weapons, including a shotgun, handgun, and knives.
Investigators were reportedly reviewing a manifesto he is said to have written before the attempted attack. The document allegedly included a ranked list of targets for the shooting, with Trump administration officials listed at the top.
Needless to say, Kimmel saying Melania had a “glow like an expectant widow” just two days before another would-be assassin allegedly targeted her husband did not sit well with many.
President Trump himself called for Kimmel’s immediate firing, writing on Truth Social: “[T]his is something far beyond the pale. Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”
The usually private Melania also responded on X. She wrote: “His monologue about my family isn’t comedy – his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America… How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.”
Kimmel, no stranger to controversy involving the Trumps, addressed the backlash during the April 27 taping of Jimmy Kimmel Live!
He said the comment about Melania was “a very light roast joke about the fact that [President Trump is] almost 80 and [Melania is] younger than I am.”
Kimmel added: “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.
“I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I think a great place to start to dial that back is having a conversation with your husband about it.”
