Trump wants Kimmel’s head (again) after joke about Melania Trump as ‘expectant widow’

Donald and Melania Trump both called for ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel on Monday after a joke last week in which the late-night comic described the first lady as having “the glow of an expectant widow.”Recommended Video The remark about the president’s wife was part of a routine on Thursday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” where the host pretended to deliver a comedy routine at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. That event two nights later was cut short when a man armed with guns and knives tried to enter the Washington ballroom where the Trumps and much of the nation’s political leadership had gathered. “People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate,” Melania Trump said in a social media post later echoed by her husband. Kimmel described the joke during his Monday night monologue as a light roast about the first couple’s age difference and “not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination.” He said he was sorry that the president and everyone at the event went through that traumatic and scary experience. “I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject,” Kimmel said. “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.” There was no comment Monday from ABC. Trump has long been on receiving end of Kimmel’s routines Kimmel has long targeted the president in his comedy, and he doubled down after a run-in with the administration last fall. Kimmel was suspended by ABC and some of the network’s affiliates said they would take him off the air following a comment made about assassinated conservative leader Charlie Kirk, moves encouraged by Trump’s FCC chairman, Brendan Carr. ABC and the stations later brought Kimmel back. Upon his return, Kimmel said that by saying that “many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk,” he was not trying to make light of Kirk’s killing and didn’t want to leave that impression. He did not apologize, however, and he criticized station owners who took him off the air before later relenting. Shortly after the incident, ABC signed Kimmel to a one-year contract extension that is due to keep him on the air until May 2027. His show has aired on the network since January 2003. His late-night competitor Stephen Colbert — another frequent Trump critic — is seeing his CBS show end next month. Dressed in a tux and standing behind a podium Thursday, Kimmel pretended to deliver a comic routine for the WHCA dinner. His speech had false “cutaways” to the Trumps and others, taken from video clips. He noted Melania in the “audience,” saying, “Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.” “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,” the president said on his Truth Social platform. “Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired” by ABC and its parent Walt Disney Co., he said. His wife said Kimmel’s “hateful and violent rhetoric” is intended to divide the country. “A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him,” Melania Trump wrote. “Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand.” White House press secretary also weighs in White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was part of a campaign of rhetoric from Democrats and…

This excerpt is published under fair use for community discussion. Read the full article at Fortune.