Donald Trump is doubling down on his call for ABC and Disney to fire Jimmy Kimmel. The feud between the U.S. president and the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” host has escalated over the last week after Kimmel made a joke about Melania Trump becoming a widow shortly before the White House Correspondents Dinner, which was disrupted by a shooter. The suspect has since been charged with attempting to assassinate the president.
“When is ABC Fake News Network firing seriously unfunny Jimmy Kimmel, who incompetently presides over one of the Lowest Rated shows on Television?” Trump asked his Truth Social followers in a post published April 30. “People are angry. It better be soon!!! President DJT.”
Trump’s post followed Kimmel’s April 29 monologue, where he quipped: “Our first couple, Donald and Melania, lately have seemed closer than ever, and I like to think I played a part in that.” Kimmel then roasted the couple for how they awkwardly held hands during a meeting with King Charles and Queen Camilla.
Melania Trump was the first person to call for Kimmel’s firing after the White House House Correspondents Dinner shooting. Two days before the event, Kimmel parodied hosting the event on his late night show and jokingly addressed that Melania had the glow of an “expectant widow.”
“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,” Melania Trump posted on X. “People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate. A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him. Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.”
Donald Trump then followed with his own post calling for the cancellation of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
“Wow, Jimmy Kimmel, who is in no way funny as attested to by his terrible Television Ratings, made a statement on his Show that is really shocking,” Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time. “He showed a fake video of the First Lady, Melania, and our son, Barron, like they were actually sitting in his studio, listening to him speak, which they weren’t, and never would be. He then stated, ‘Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.’”
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Trump continued, “A day later, a lunatic tried entering the ballroom of the White House Correspondents Dinner, loaded up with a shotgun, handgun, and many knives. He was there for a very obvious and sinister reason. 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.”
Kimmel addressed Melania and Donald Trump during his April 27 monologue by defending his “expectant widow” joke and saying: “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,” Kimmel added. “But I understand that the First Lady had a stressful experience over the weekend. And probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house. 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.”
From Variety US