Melania Accuses Jimmy Kimmel of ‘Violent Rhetoric’ After His Joke About Her Becoming a ‘Widow’ Days Before Trump’s Attempted Assassination
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Jimmy Kimmel has had his issues with the Trump administration. That much is very well established. In fact, Kimmel was briefly off air for a while last year, after a comment he made about Charlie Kirk’s death got pushback from the Trump administration to the point that ABC suspended him.
Back then, the backlash to his suspension was so big that ABC ended up reinstating Kimmel, and he has continued to make jokes about Trump and the administration since. Not just that, Kimmel signed an extension to continue hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live! throughout May 2027, in December of last year, just a few months after the backlash and his return to air.
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Fast forward to now, and first lady Melania Trump was anything but happy with some of Kimmel’s jokes made before the White House Correspondents’ Association event, particularly in light of the shooting that took place during the dinner. President Trump and top officials were rushed to safety during the event after gunfire was heard outside the ballroom at the Washington Hilton. The suspect was taken into custody after exchanging gunfire with Secret Service agents. One agent was shot during the confrontation.
“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country,” Melania said via X on Monday, April 27. “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,” she added. “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?”
On April 23, days before the dinner, Kimmel parodied the event and said, while pretending to be the host of the evening, “Our first lady Melania is here. So beautiful, Mrs. Trump you have a glow like an expectant widow.”
After the shooting, President Trump spoke about Melania to reporters. “I want to thank the first lady, that was a rather traumatic experience for her,” Trump said. “We’re not going to let anybody take over our society, we’re not going to cancel things out … we can’t do that.”
The first lady is not the first to criticize Kimmel, who made the jokes days before the shooting took place. Meghan McCain, the daughter of former Presidential candidate John McCain and former cohost of The View, wrote via X. “I am so deeply sick of Jimmy Kimmel and the hate he spreads in the world.”
It is unclear whether Kimmel will address this backlash on his next show, scheduled for Monday night. Back when he returned from his suspension after the Charlie Kirk assassination last September, Kimmel did address the comments he’d made about Kirk that people took offense to, explaining that he wasn’t celebrating Kirk’s death.
