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United States President Donald Trump on Monday called for comedian Jimmy Kimmel to be fired after the late-night host likened First Lady Melania Trump to an “expectant widow,” days before a reported third assassination attempt against the president.
Melania Trump also criticised the comedian in a post on X (formerly Twitter), saying comments about her family were not comedy and only deepened political division in the United States.
The first lady said Kimmel hid behind the network ABC because he knew it would continue protecting him.
She added that ABC should decide how long it would tolerate what she described as unacceptable behaviour.
Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country. 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…
— First Lady Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) April 27, 2026
Kimmel made the joke last Thursday ahead of the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, which Trump attended on Saturday.
During a monologue, Kimmel portrayed himself as the MC of that upcoming banquet. It included a segment in which he addressed the first lady in the audience and said, “Mrs Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said many people were angered by what he described as Kimmel’s offensive remarks and added that the comedian had gone too far.
He said ABC and its parent company, Disney, should remove Kimmel.
“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.
“Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC,” he said.
Kimmel has often been at the centre of debates over free speech and political satire as one of America’s best-known late-night hosts.
He was briefly suspended by ABC last September after controversy surrounding comments he made about Trump’s MAGA movement.
While Trump initially adopted a calmer tone toward the media after the shooting incident at the gala, the White House has since taken a harder stance.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said hostility from the political left toward Trump and his supporters had contributed to repeated acts of violence.
She said no recent political figure had faced more threats, attacks or violence than Trump.
Leavitt also accused critics who describe the president as a fascist or compare him to Adolf Hitler of encouraging dangerous rhetoric.
