Melania Trump Calls on ABC to Fire Jimmy Kimmel Over His ‘Widow’ Joke

(SeaPRwire) –   First Lady Melania Trump has urged ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel over jokes he delivered during a White House Correspondents’ Dinner skit on his late-night talk show last week.

“Kimmel’s hateful, divisive rhetoric is designed to split our nation. His monologue targeting my family is not comedy—his words are corrosive and worsen America’s political division,” the First Lady shared on social media Monday. “How many times will ABC’s leadership turn a blind eye to Kimmel’s abhorrent behavior at the cost of our community?” she added, calling on the network to “take a stand.”

Kimmel’s skit—which contained a joke that Melania had “a glow like an expectant widow”—aired two days before a shooting took place at the actual White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday, when President Donald Trump and other high-ranking administration officials were escorted away from the event.

The annual dinner typically features a monologue from a comedian assigned to roast the president and attendees. For his segment, Kimmel delivered a mock roast, pairing his lines with footage of the First Lady and other figures to make it appear as though they were reacting to his jokes.

“Our first lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, she’s stunning. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,” Kimmel stated during the skit.

“By the way, if our president were to have a medical emergency tonight, do we have a doctor in the house — oh, my bad. I mean, do we have a Jesus in the house? I mix the two up all the time,” Kimmel remarked.

Melania Trump was also escorted away by security personnel when the shooting occurred. When asked about his wife by reporters on Sunday, Trump said the incident was a “rather traumatic experience” for her.

Shortly after Melania’s social media post, the president shared his own criticism of Kimmel, stating the host should be “immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”
“I’m glad so many people are furious over Kimmel’s despicable call to violence, and I normally wouldn’t react to anything he says, but this is a step far beyond what’s acceptable,” he wrote on Truth Social.

This latest dispute is just one in a string of ongoing clashes between Kimmel and the Trumps. Following the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk last year, a joke Kimmel told on his program prompted ABC to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air for nearly a week.

Trump celebrated the news on social media right after the show was taken off the air: “Great news for America. The ratings-challenged Jimmy Kimmel show is CANCELLED,” he wrote.
The initially “indefinite” suspension of his program sparked free speech-related concerns, uniting Democrats and some Republicans, particularly as critics argued that government pressure on ABC raised First Amendment protection implications.