Jimmy Kimmel has defended a joke which saw him call Melania Trump an “expectant widow” just days before the recent shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
The host made the joke last Thursday (April 23), during a skit on his show Jimmy Kimmel Live! in which he to pretended to be an MC at the dinner.
“Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,” he said.
On Saturday (April 25), US President Donald Trump and various members of his administration were ushered to safety by security after a gunman fired several shots before being apprehended at the event, held at the Hilton in Washington.
Posting on Truth Social yesterday (April 27), the US president said Disney and ABC should immediately sack the comedian.
“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,” he wrote.
President Donald J. Trump Calls on Disney and ABC to Fire Jimmy Kimmel Following His Despicable Call to Violence. pic.twitter.com/W4oxxgBZxv
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 27, 2026
The first lady also posted 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 behaviour at the expense of our community.”
Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric 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.
People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to…
— First Lady Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) April 27, 2026
ABC is yet to make comment publicly on their remarks.
But in his first monologue since the shooting last night, Kimmel defended the joke as a “very light roast”.
“Obviously, it was a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they’re together,” he said. “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, in particular.”
“But I understand that the first lady had a stressful experience over the weekend, and probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house,” he continued.
“And also, I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do, and I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it. Donald Trump is allowed to say whatever he wants to say, as are you and as am I. Because under the First Amendment, we have, as Americans, a right to free speech.”
Kimmel went on to say he felt “sorry” for everyone at the dinner, adding: “Just because no one got killed doesn’t mean it wasn’t traumatic and scary, and we should come together. We really should.
“But if you want us to believe that a joke I made three days before this dinner had any effect on anything that happened, well then, maybe someone should look into this psychic lady too.”
He then played a clip of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying “there will be some shots fired tonight”, before the dinner began.
Kimmel’s show was temporarily suspended by ABC last year after he accused the MAGA movement of exploiting the murder of Charlie Kirk, as the US president celebrated the news. He was reinstated less than a week later after a backlash from the entertainment industry.
The post Jimmy Kimmel defends joke after Donald Trump calls for him to be fired appeared first on NME.