Jimmy Kimmel he broke his silence about the President Donald Trump and the first wife Melania Trump demanding his dismissal from his late-night show.
“Sometimes you wake up in the morning and the president's wife issues a statement that you have been fired from your job, we've all been there, haven't we?” Kimmel, 58, joked in his own Jimmy Kimmel Live! monologue on Monday, April 27.
Controversy erupted following the shooting at the Correspondents' Dinner at the White House on Saturday, April 25, in which a Secret Service member was injured. The president, first lady and cabinet members were safely escorted from the Washington Hilton ballroom, while authorities captured the suspected shooter. Cole Thomas Allen.
(On Monday, Allen was charged with “one count each of attempting to assassinate the President of the United States, transporting a firearm and ammunition in interstate commerce with intent to commit a felony, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence,” according to the Justice Department. Allen has not entered a plea.)
The comments Trump disputed were made Jimmy Kimmel Live! Thursday, April 23 – two days before the White House Correspondents' Dinner. As part of a 10-minute roast of the president, Kimmel joked that Melania “had the glow of a pregnant widow.”
Kimmel later teased that Melania will celebrate her 56th birthday on Sunday, April 26, “the same way she always does — looking out the window and whispering, 'What have I done?'”
After the shooting of White House Correspondents, Melania issued a statement accusing Kimmel of “hateful and violent rhetoric” “intended to divide our country.”
“His speech about my family is not a joke – his words are evil and deepen the political sickness in America,” he stressed. “People like Kimmel should not have the opportunity to come into our homes every evening to spread hate.”
Kimmel insisted during his Monday monologue that his reference to Melania, 56, as a “widow-in-waiting” was a light joke about the age gap in his marriage.
“This was on Thursday. There was no big reaction to it, until this morning, when I greeted the day facing another storm of Twitter vomit and a call to fire me from our first lady, Melania Trump, saying I should be fired because of a joke I made, again, five nights ago. It was a roast of hypocrisy,” he revealed.
I Jimmy Kimmel Live! The manager continued, “Obviously it was a joke about their age difference and the look of happiness we see on her face every time they are together. It was a light roast joke about the fact that she is almost 80 years old and younger than me. It was not, by definition, calling for murder, and they know that. I have been very vocal against a lot of violence, but first of all I understand that a certain lady was violent. experience on the weekend, and almost every weekend is more stressful than that house.”
Kimmel completely dismissed Melania's accusations that she was contributing to “hateful and violent speech” with her joke last Thursday.
“I think a good place to start dialing that in would be to talk to your husband about it,” she laughed.
Kimmel then told Melania, “I'm sorry that you, and the president and everybody in that room went through that. I really am. Just because nobody died doesn't mean it wasn't traumatic and scary. We have to come together and get better.”
Us Weekly has reached out to the White House for comment.
Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump on April 27.
Getty Images/AP Photo/Alex Brandon, PoolOn Monday, Donald, 79, took the issue one step further than the first lady by asking ABC to fire Kimmel from his late-night show.
“Wow, Jimmy Kimmel, who is not at all funny as evidenced by his poor television ratings, made a shocking statement on his show,” the president said via Truth Social on Monday. “He showed a fake video of the First Lady, Melania, and our son, Barron, as if they were actually sitting in his studio, listening to him speak, which they weren't, and wouldn't be. Then he said, 'Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, she's so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have the glow of a pregnant widow.'
The president continued, “A day later a madman tried to enter the ballroom of the White House Correspondents Dinner, carrying a gun, a gun, and several knives. He was there for an obvious and very bad reason. I know that many people are offended by Kimmel's call to violence, and normally it would not be anything that Jimmymel said, but he should respond in this way. He should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC, thank you for your attention to this matter!
Kimmel was suspended by ABC last September following his on-air comments following the death of a human rights activist. Charlie Kirk. Many Hollywood stars and fans formed a campaign to defend him and he finally returned to the radio. (He later signed a one-year contract with ABC.)
Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs weekdays on ABC.
