Jimmy Kimmel Defends His 'Obvious' Joke About Melania Trump After She Issued Scathing Rebuke: 'It Was a Very Light Roast'
Jimmy Kimmel Defends His 'Obvious' Joke About Melania Trump After She Issued Scathing Rebuke: 'It Was a Very Light Roast'
Brenton Blanchet, Daniel S. LevineTue, April 28, 2026 at 4:38 AM UTC
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Jimmy Kimmel is responding after President Donald Trump demand ABC fire him
The Jimmy Kimmel Live! host offered his response during the Monday, April 27 episode of his late-night show
Trump claimed earlier in the day that a joke Kimmel made on his show about Melania Trump was a "call to violence"
Jimmy Kimmel responded after President Donald Trump demanded ABC fire him over jokes aimed at Melania Trump.
The Jimmy Kimmel Live! host, 58, responded to both the president and first lady during his Monday, April 27, monologue, insisting that a joke he delivered three days before the White House Correspondents' Dinner could not have had an impact on the attempted assassination attempt on Saturday, April 25.
During Monday's monologue, Kimmel said his "glow like an expectant widow" joke about Melania from his Thursday, April 23 episode, was "obviously a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they're together."
"It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he's almost 80 and she's younger than I am," he said of Trump's age. "It was not by any stretch a call to assassination and they know that I've been very vocal for many years, speaking out against gun violence in particular."
"I am sorry that you and the president and everyone in that room on Saturday went through that. I really am," Kimmel said, speaking directly to Melania. "Just because no one got killed doesn't meant it wasn't traumatic and scary. And we should come together and be best. We really should."
Melania Trump; Jimmy KimmelCredit: SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty; Randy Holmes/ABC via Getty
"But if you want us to believe that a joke I made three days before this dinner had any effect on anything that happened, well maybe you should look into this psychic lady, too," Kimmel said.
The comedian then showed a clip of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt talking up the president's speech ahead of the Correspondents dinner, joking there would be "some shots fired in the room tonight."
"You know who's going to be furious when she hears that? White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt," Kimmel said.
Kimmel's comments follow the "alternative" White House Correspondents' Dinner monologue featured in his April 23 episode. Two days later, during the official event, a gunman opened fire at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday, April 25.
The host put his comedy segment together in an effort to roast the president since "typically, somebody funny shows up" to the annual event, which Trump, 79, opted not to have, Kimmel said. During the segment, Kimmel joked that the first lady had "a glow like an expected widow" and would be spending her birthday "looking out a window and whispering, 'What have I done?'"
He also poked fun at Trump's connection to Jeffrey Epstein. "Before we go any further, Melania, this is Donald. Donald, this is Melania," Kimmel later said. "That was my impression of Jeffrey Epstein. Pretty good, right?" (Melania has denied reports that Epstein first introduced her to Trump.)
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In response to the segment, Melania called for ABC to "take a stand" against the late-night host over what she alleged was "hateful and violent rhetoric" on his show. She argued in an X post on Monday, April 27 that Kimmel "shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate."
The first lady also called Kimmel a "coward," writing that he "hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect" him. "Enough is enough," she wrote. "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."
Later in the day, the president called Kimmel's "widow" statement "shocking" in a post shared to Truth Social.
"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. He then stated, 'Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.'"
The president then reiterated that "a lunatic tried entering the ballroom of the White House Correspondents Dinner" over the weekend, "loaded up with a shotgun, handgun, and many knives." Trump also called for Kimmel to be "immediately fired by Disney and ABC," which has been the home of Jimmy Kimmel Live! since its 2003 premiere.
"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," he claimed.
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The latest back-and-forth between Kimmel and the first family comes months after Kimmel’s talk show was "indefinitely" pulled from the air on Sept. 17 after comments he made about Charlie Kirk’s death in his opening monologue on Sept. 15. At the time, FCC Chair Brendan Carr threatened to pursue action against the network over its criticism of Trump. Kimmel later made his return to the airwaves six days later.
Trump was less than enthusiastic, calling ABC "fake news" and claiming the White House was told "that his show was cancelled."
Kimmel referenced the September situation on Monday, saying it was "like deja vu for me today with all the news channels talking about this."
Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
