Melania Trump and Jimmy Kimmel Live Alex Wong/Getty Images; Randy Holmes/Disney/Getty Images Logo text Melania Trump is calling on ABC to cancel Jimmy Kimmel Live! in the wake of Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt on the president during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
The first lady posted on X Monday morning condemning Kimmel following the comedian’s ill-timed joke last week, which called Melania an “expectant widow.”
In a skit on the late-night talk show on Thursday, Kimmel read jokes that he would have told if he had been asked to host the WHCD. One was, “Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.” In another, he said that if he bruised Trump’s ego, “It will only make your hands look less disgusting.”
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But following a suspected shooter being arrested for opening fire at the WHCD host hotel — and Attorney General Todd Blanche revealing that investigators believe the suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, 31, was targeting members of Trump’s administration — Melania released a statement hitting back at Kimmel.
“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country,” she wrote. “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. 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.”
The first lady’s statement follows ABC temporarily suspending Jimmy Kimmel Live! last September following threats from Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr. That incident was tied to a joke Kimmel made after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. When Kimmel returned to the air, he said his joke had been “ill-timed or unclear or maybe both” and added, “I get why you’re upset.”
Supporters for Kimmel are pointing out that Kimmel was likely joking about the the president’s health — not being targeted for assassination—and that he couldn’t have known what was going to happen at the WHCD. On the other hand, one can also fairly say Kimmel should have known better given there have been previous attempts on Trump’s life and having been suspended for his Kirk joke—which, like the similarly vague “expectant widow” comment—could be taken more than one way.
The WHCD shooting marked the third time Trump’s security perimeter has been breached by a man with a gun who intended to cause the president harm during his second term. The first was in July, 2024, during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when Thomas Matthew Crooks open fired on Trump with a rifle, grazing the president’s ear. The second was in September, 2024, when Ryan Wesley Routh was spotted with a rifle at a golf tournament while Trump was playing the course. In addition, there have been other incidents, such as two foiled assassination plots allegedly perpetrated by Iran.
A representative for ABC and Kimmel had no immediate comment.
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