President Once Again Demanding Jimmy Kimmel's Firing After Melania Trump 'Widow' Joke

Jimmy Kimmel is in hot water again with President Donald Trump calling for the late-night host to be fired.

Jimmy Kimmel vs. the White House

On the April 23 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, prior to the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ dinner, Kimmel performed an “alternative” version of the dinner’s traditional roast. During the segment, he called Trump “a delicate snowflake” and said, “Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”

Kimmel later said the comment was a “very light roast joke” that was about “their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they’re together.”

The Trumps were not amused. In a Truth Social post that was republished by the White House account on X, President Trump demanded Kimmel be “immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”

Melania Trump posted on X, “Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.”

On April 27, Kimmel responded to Mrs. Trump’s post, saying, “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.”

Kimmel played a now viral clip of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt saying “there will be some shots fired” at the dinner not long before the shooting. Kimmel said, “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 added that he was sorry for those who were in the room during the shooting, noting that it would be a “traumatic and scary” experience for all.

Of the controversy, he said it was “deja vu,” referring to his temporary suspension last year after a comment he made regarding the killing of Charlie Kirk. After backlash to the backlash, ABC put Kimmel back on the air less than a week later. TV groups Nexstar and Sinclair agreed to stop preempting the show a few days later.

Amid the controversy, Disney’s investors demanded records to understand the reasoning behind the suspension decision. Disney ultimately extended their deal with Jimmy Kimmel through 2027.

Disney Chair James Gorman said large companies from time to time face “these kinds ‌of ⁠issues” to resolve. “It’s the job of the CEO with their team to figure out the right answer and they’ll be guided by the board,” Gorman told a business conference in Oslo.