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US President Donald Trump said Monday that Jimmy Kimmel should be fired immediately by ABC and parent company Walt Disney, joining his wife Melania Trump in calling out the late-night talk show host for a speech he made before the weekend shooting near a meeting of journalists and politicians.
Last Thursday, in a segment that aired the White House Correspondents' Dinner, Kimmel said Melania Trump “had the glow of a pregnant widow.”
Trump and the first lady stormed out of the dinner on Saturday after the shooting at the Washington Hilton hotel where the event was being held.
The suspect, identified as Cole Allen, was charged at the checkpoint and shot at Secret Service agents, injuring one, before being subdued and arrested.
Trump has repeatedly urged broadcasters to remove comedy or news programs he dislikes or has criticized, and has pressured regulators to take action to revoke the licenses of broadcasters he says have misbehaved.
Broadcasters have broad First Amendment rights to make jokes — even offensive ones, experts note. But late last year, Trump and Kimmel appeared to be at odds after the former publicly celebrated when Kimmel's show was temporarily taken off the air after the host mocked the shooter accused of shooting conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
US President Donald Trump, when asked during a news conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer about ABC's move to take Jimmy Kimmel off the air, said the host said a 'terrible thing' about Charlie Kirk – but attributed the decision to Kimmel's 'bad ratings' and 'lack of talent.'
“We hit rock bottom over the weekend, the MAGA gang trying hard to brand this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything but one of their own, and with everything they can, to score political points on him,” Kimmel said in one of his Sept. 15 tweets.
The next day, FCC chairman Brendan Carr criticized Kimmel's comments as “seemingly misleading to the American public” about his alleged political affiliation.
While he warned that local broadcasters who broadcast Kimmel could face fines or lose their licenses, he said “they can do this the easy way or the hard way” pointing out that the FCC “has remedies [they] can look” to face Kimmel.
After the regulator's comments, Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group – which together own ABC's subsidiaries – stopped airing Kimmel's show, and the latter issued a statement thanking Carr.
Carr approved Nexstar's US$3.5 billion acquisition of Tegna, but a US judge halted the merger.
Soon after, ABC released a statement saying it would be permanently removed Jimmy Kimmel Live! – a decision that was reversed a week later after a series of negotiations between Kimmel and Disney.
Jimmy Kimmel took aim at US President Donald Trump and members of his administration in his late night return to television after being suspended. He also paid tribute to the widow of slain commentator Charlie Kirk.
Meanwhile, stars including Tom Hanks, Barbra Streisand, Jennifer Aniston, Billie Eilish and Ben Stiller signed a letter distributed by the American Civil Liberties Union calling ABC's removal of Kimmel's show “a dark moment for free speech in our nation.”
Former US President Barack Obama wrote on social media that the current administration has reached “a new and dangerous level by constantly threatening media companies unless they shut up or fire journalists and commentators they don't like.”
There were protests outside the ABC and Disney studios, while US Senator Elizabeth Warren described Carr's statements as a form of corporate meddling.
He also compared Disney's decision to pull Kimmel to the massive cancellation of Stephen Colbert's CBS late-night show — a decision that came shortly after Colbert criticized Paramount for settling a defamation lawsuit with Trump. Paramount said it made the move for financial reasons only.
Kimmel's comeback episode earned 6.26 million broadcast viewers, according to a news release from Disney and ABC Entertainment, despite not airing in 23 percent of US TV households. And his opening speech overnight drew more than 20 million views on YouTube, breaking the host's all-time viewership record.
In that monologue, Kimmel apologized for his earlier remarks, which he said to others, “he felt like he had the wrong time or was not clear or maybe both.”
Shortly before that episode aired, Trump speculated on his Truth Social forum that he might sue ABC over Kimmel's reinstatement.
“The last time I followed them, they gave me $16 million,” he wrote, citing a settlement the studio paid to Trump's presidential library in a defamation lawsuit. “This one sounds very profitable.”
Melania, Donald Trump responds
Kimmel's latest joke appears to have sparked similar criticism from the White House. Earlier Monday, Melania Trump called Kimmel's comments “depraved.”
Neither ABC nor Disney immediately responded to requests for comment.
“Enough is enough. It's time for ABC to step up. How many times has ABC leadership allowed Kimmel's horrible behavior at the expense of our community,” Melania Trump said on the X channel. “People like Kimmel should not have the opportunity to come into our homes every night to spread hate.”
“Kimmel's hateful and violent speech is intended to divide our country,” she said. “His comments about my family are not funny – his words are hurtful and deepen the political sickness in America.”
Meanwhile, the president said the comedian's joke was “beyond the pale. Jimmy Kimmel should be fired immediately by Disney and ABC.”
