{"id":400762,"date":"2026-04-28T01:05:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T01:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/400762\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T01:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T01:05:10","slug":"trumps-call-for-jimmy-kimmels-firing-again-over-morbid-first-lady-joke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/400762\/","title":{"rendered":"Trumps call for Jimmy Kimmel’s firing, again, over morbid first lady joke"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald and Melania Trump both called for ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel after a joke last week in which the late-night comic described the first lady as having \u201cthe glow of an expectant widow\u201d.<\/p>\n

The remark about the President’s wife was part of a routine on Thursday’s \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live\u201d where the host pretended to deliver a comedy routine at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. That event two nights later was cut short when a man armed with guns<\/a> and knives tried to enter the Washington ballroom<\/a> where the Trumps and much of the nation’s political leadership had gathered.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople like Kimmel shouldn\u2019t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate,\u201d Melania Trump said in a social media post later echoed by her husband.<\/p>\n

There was no immediate comment from ABC.<\/p>\n

Trump has long been on receiving end of Kimmel’s routines<\/p>\n

Kimmel has long targeted the President in his comedy, and he doubled down after a run-in with the administration last fall. Kimmel was suspended by ABC<\/a>, and some of the network’s affiliates said they would take him off the air following a comment made about assassinated conservative leader Charlie Kirk, moves encouraged by Trump’s FCC chairman, Brendan Carr. ABC and the stations later brought Kimmel back.<\/p>\n

Dressed in a tux and standing behind a podium Thursday, Kimmel pretended to deliver a comic routine for the WHCA dinner. His speech had false \u201ccutaways\u201d to the Trumps and others, taken from video clips.<\/p>\n

\"President<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump with first lady Melania Trump, walks in to speak in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

He noted Melania in the \u201caudience\u201d, saying, \u201cMrs Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel\u2019s despicable call to violence, and normally would not be responsive to anything that he said, but this is something far beyond the pale,\u201d the President said on his Truth Social platform. \u201cJimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired\u201d by ABC and its parent Walt Disney Co, he said.<\/p>\n

Watch: Jimmy Kimmel’s Melania joke enrages Trump – see more on TVNZ+<\/a><\/p>\n

His wife said Kimmel’s \u201chateful and violent rhetoric\u201d is intended to divide the country. \u201cA coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him,” Melania Trump wrote. \u201cEnough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand.\u201d<\/p>\n

White House press secretary also weighs in<\/p>\n

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was part of a campaign of rhetoric from Democrats and some in the media that \u201chas helped to legitimise this violence\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho in their right mind says a wife would be glowing over the potential murder of her beloved husband?\u201d Leavitt said. There was no indication that Kimmel was referring to violence.<\/p>\n

During his routine, Kimmel noted Melania Trump’s birthday Sunday, saying, \u201cShe’s planning to celebrate at home the same way she always does \u2014 looking out a window and whispering, \u2018What have I done?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said: \u201cBefore we go any further, Melania, this is Donald. Donald, this is Melania. That was my impression of Jeffrey Epstein.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cole Tomas Allen, the California man arrested after charged with attempting to rush into the correspondents’ dinner on Saturday, was charged with the attempted assassination of the president.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donald and Melania Trump both called for ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel after a joke last week in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400763,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[65,156,111,139,64,69,417,437,66],"class_list":["post-400762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-donald-trump","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-north-america","tag-nz","tag-television","tag-tv","tag-us-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}