Jimmy Kimmel responds to Donald Trump demanding ABC fire him and defends calling Melania an “expectant widow”
Jimmy Kimmel has responded after Donald and Melania Trump called for him to be fired by ABC.
The Trump family’s latest grievances in relation to Kimmel stem from an alternative roast he delivered last week on Jimmy Kimmel Live ahead of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
In his nine-minute rant, Kimmel told viewers of the president: “Our president is a delicate snowflake with the thinnest fat skin of any human being ever, and that means there’s going to be no comedian this year.”
Kimmel then turned his attention to the First Lady, who recently hit the headlines when her documentary, Melania, became the most expensive documentary ever made.
“Her documentary had a score of 10 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, which is a website named after her husband’s testicles,” Kimmel joked at Melania’s expense. “By the way, before we go any further, Melania, this is Donald. Donald, this is Melania. That was my impression of Jeffrey Epstein.”
He also joked, “Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”
This led initially to Melania taking to X on April 27th and blaming the late-night television host for the political divide in the US in the wake of a shooter opening fire at the White House Correspondents’ Dinener.
Melania began, “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 spread hate.”
She continued, “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.”
Then, the president waded into the conversation, writing on Truth Social, “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. 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.”
Trump added, “He then stated, ‘Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.’ 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.”
The occupier of the White House continued, “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. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
After having the most powerful man in America call for him to be fired, Kimmel used his late-night show to respond to the criticism.
He began, “You know sometimes you wake up in the morning and the First Lady puts out a statement demanding you be fired from your job? We’ve all been there, right?”
Kimmel then defended his joke, calling her an expectant widow, explaining, “It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am.”
The comedian then clarified that his roast was not intended to be a call for an assassination attempt, before adding, “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,” Kimmel continued, before turning his attention to Trump, adding, “I also should point out Donald Trump is allowed to say whatever he wants to say, as are you and as am I and as are all of us, because under the First Amendment we have as Americans the right to free speech.”
See his response in full below.
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