Jimmy Kimmel has responded to the mixed reactions that have arisen following his most recent “roast” of President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania.
The talkshow host has a long history of back-and-forth with the Trumps, so it was no surprise that he took the opportunity to make a joke at Melania’s expense during last week’s filming 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.
That incident, which played out inside the ballroom of the Washington Hilton hotel on Saturday, April 25, saw a lone gunman – later identified as 31-year-old Cole Thomas Allen – attempt to breach a security checkpoint at the venue while carrying several weapons, including a shotgun, handgun, and knives.
Investigators were yesterday assessing a manifesto he reportedly wrote before carrying out the attempted assassination.
Said manifesto is alleged to include a list of targets for the shooting, ranked from highest to lowest. Trump administration officials feature at the top of the list.
Needless to say, Kimmel saying that Melania had a “glow like an expectant widow” two days before another would-be assassin targeted her husband has not gone down well with some.
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 reticent Melania also hit out at Kimmel 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 where the Trumps are concerned, responded during last night’s taping of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, April 27.
He claimed the comment to 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.”