Melania Trump has criticised late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over a joke in which he called her an “expectant widow” just days before a shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner she attended with the president.
The first lady called Kimmel’s remarks “hateful and violent”, urging his network, ABC, to take action against his “atrocious behavior”.
A gunman opened fire at Saturday’s dinner, an attack authorities say may have targeted members of the Trump administration. The joke aired on Thursday, as Kimmel parodied the dinner in advance.
“Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,” Kimmel said.
In a post on X on Monday, Melania Trump said “people like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate”, and urged ABC to “take a stand”.
“His monologue about my family isn’t comedy – his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America,” she said. “How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.”
President Trump also weighed in on the issue.
In a post on Truth Social on Monday afternoon, Trump said he appreciated that so many were “incensed by Kimmel’s” remarks, claiming they were a “call to violence”.
“[T]his is something far beyond the pale. Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC,” he wrote.
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.
At a news conference on Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also criticised Kimmel’s remarks.
“This kind of rhetoric about the president, the first lady and his supporters is completely deranged,” she said.
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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