Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel has defended a joke in which he called Melania Trump an “expectant widow” just days before a shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The first lady described a Kimmel sketch which aired last Thursday as “hateful and violent”, and the White House urged his network, ABC, to fire the comedian.
Three days later, a gunman opened fire at the White House Correspondents’ dinner in Washington DC, which Donald Trump attended with Melania. Authorities have said the gunman’s attack may have targeted members of the Trump administration.
Kimmel said the original joke was a “light roast” about the 23-year age difference between the president and his wife.
“Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,” Kimmel said during the Thursday night sketch.
Delivering his first monologue on Jimmy Kimmel Live! after the shooting, the comedian said the joke was “a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s [President Trump] 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,” he added.
“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.”
On Monday, Melania wrote in a post on X that “people like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate”.
“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.”
President Trump also said he appreciated that so many people were “incensed by Kimmel’s” remarks, claiming they were a “call to violence”, in a post on Truth Social on Monday afternoon.
“[T]his is something far beyond the pale. Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC,” he added.
Kimmel was taken off air last September after he made comments about the shooting of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
In a monologue, Kimmel said the “Maga gang” – a reference to Trump’s followers – was trying to “score political points” from the murder of Kirk. His show was reinstated a week later.
After returning to the show, Kimmel said he accepted that some people felt his remarks about Kirk’s death had been “ill-timed or unclear or maybe both”, adding: “I get why you’re upset.”
In the latest incident, a resurfaced clip of Kimmel’s Thursday joke sparked backlash on social media after the shooting, with critics accusing the comedian of encouraging political violence. Several conservative social media users called for Kimmel to be taken off air.
Trump and Melania were evacuated unharmed from the gala dinner on Saturday night after a gunman opened fire near a security checkpoint at the event, held at the Washington Hilton.
Trump told reporters that the dinner was “a rather traumatic experience” for his wife.
The suspect, identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, was tackled by agents near a staircase leading down to a ballroom where the dinner was taking place, with hundreds of journalists, officials and public figures attending.
Allen appeared in court on Monday where he was charged with attempting to assassinate the president.
He was also charged with weapon offences relating to the incident. He did not enter a plea.
By BBC News
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