President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump are demanding ABC take action against Jimmy Kimmel after a late-night joke about the first lady. Now, Kimmel is responding publicly on his show.
The dispute stems from a Thursday “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” segment in which Kimmel parodied the White House correspondents’ dinner and joked that Melania Trump had “a glow like an expectant widow.” The remark aired two days before a gunman rushed a security checkpoint at the dinner in Washington, where the president and first lady were inside.
White House pushes for removal
Melania Trump said in a post on X that Kimmel’s comments were “hateful and violent,” urging ABC to act and accusing the network of continuing to shield him.
“Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand,” she wrote. “How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.”
The president followed with a post on Truth Social, calling the joke “far beyond the pale” and saying Kimmel should be immediately fired by ABC and its parent company, Disney.
At a White House briefing Monday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt drew a direct connection to the language used on television, questioning how anyone could describe a spouse as “glowing” in the context of potential violence and calling the rhetoric “completely deranged.”
“Having experienced what I did with the first lady on Saturday night, I can tell you that she was anything but that,” Leavitt said. “It’s unbelievable that the American people are consuming it night after night after night.
Kimmel responds on-air
Kimmel addressed the criticism during his Monday night monologue, rejecting the claim that the joke promoted violence and describing it as a “light roast” about the couple’s age difference — noting it aired days before the shooting.
“He’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am,” Kimmel said. “It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination and they know that.”
He added that he was sorry the president and first lady experienced a frightening situation over the weekend.
“I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject,” Kimmel said. “And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.”
Timing sharpens reaction
Kimmel’s Thursday segment aired before the correspondents’ dinner, which was disrupted Saturday when a suspect tried to breach security. Authorities charged him with attempting to assassinate the president.
That sequence, the joke followed by the attempted attack, drove the White House response, which pointed to both timing and tone in arguing the comment crossed a line.
ABC and Disney have not publicly responded.
Free speech group pushes back
A free speech organization led by actress Jane Fonda defended Kimmel and warned against political pressure on broadcasters. The group said satire has long played a role in challenging those in power and argued that the right to offend remains protected under the First Amendment.
“In America, satire is not a crime,” the group said. “The right to mock, to challenge, and yes, to offend those in power, is foundational to democracy.”
The group also urged ABC not to comply with calls for removal, rejecting the push to penalize speech based on its content.
Prior clashes between Trump and Kimmel
The dispute echoes an earlier clash between the Trump administration and Kimmel. ABC temporarily suspended the show last year after backlash tied to comments Kimmel made following a high-profile killing.
The program returned within days.
Kimmel has remained a frequent critic of the president in his monologues, and the latest exchange adds to a long-running public feud between the two.
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