{"id":406241,"date":"2026-05-01T06:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T06:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/406241\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T06:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T06:02:09","slug":"jimmy-kimmel-hes-a-lowlife-always-has-been-trump-ramps-up-attack-on-jimmy-kimmel-after-expectant-widow-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/406241\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Kimmel: ‘He’s a lowlife, always has been’: Trump ramps up attack on Jimmy Kimmel after ‘expectant widow’ row"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"'He's US President Donald Trump sharply escalated his long-standing feud with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel<\/a> on Thursday, calling him a “lowlife” and warning that ABC is putting itself in “great jeopardy” by keeping him on the air. During an interview with Newsmax on Thursday, the President suggested that the network\u2019s access to public airwaves should be reconsidered if they continue to broadcast Kimmel\u2019s relentless attacks on the Republican party.”I don’t understand how he can be on air. I think ABC is putting themselves in great jeopardy, actually,” Trump said.”He’s a lowlife \u2014 he always has been. He shouldn’t be on TV. I don’t know how a guy can be on TV where the network gets free airwaves from the US government and spend 100% of his time knocking Republicans… It’s not supposed to work that way.”He also posted on Truth Social earlier in the day, \u201cWhen is ABC Fake News Network firing seriously unfunny Jimmy Kimmel, who incompetently presides over one of the Lowest Rated shows on Television? People are angry. It better be soon!!!\u201dTrump has railed against Kimmel for years, and the latest row began Monday when Kimmel made a joke about First Lady Melania Trump during a parody monologue aired days before the White House correspondents\u2019 dinner shooting.In the segment, Kimmel said, \u201cOur first lady Melania is here. So beautiful, Mrs Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.\u201dThe remark drew backlash, with the First Lady calling on ABC to \u201ctake a stand.\u201d \u201cKimmel\u2019s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country. His monologue about my family isn\u2019t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America. People like Kimmel shouldn\u2019t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate,\u201d said Melania.Later that day, Trump said the network \u201cshould\u201d fire Kimmel immediately. In a Truth Social post, he said, \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. Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.\u201dKimmel responded to the criticism and calls for his firing and said, “You know how sometimes you wake up in the morning and the First Lady puts out a statement demanding you be fired from your job? We\u2019ve all been there. Right?\u201dHe explained that his \u201cexpectant widow\u201d remark was \u201ca joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on [Melania\u2019s] face\u201d when she is with the president, adding that it was not meant as a call for violence. \u201cIt was a very light roast joke about the fact that he\u2019s almost 80 and she\u2019s younger than I am. It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination. And they know that,\u201d he said.On Wednesday, he quipped that \u201cDonald and Melania lately have seemed closer than ever, and I like to think I played a part in that.\u201dABC\u2019s parent company Disney has shown no sign of wavering despite Trump\u2019s pressure and the FCC\u2019s almost unprecedented challenge to ABC\u2019s station licenses. Legal experts say Disney will almost certainly prevail in any legal battle over its station licenses.The dispute adds to a long-running feud between the two. Kimmel has previously faced controversy over his comments.Last September, ABC suspended him after remarks about the shooting of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, in which he said the “Maga gang” was trying to “score political points” from the murder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US President Donald Trump sharply escalated his long-standing feud with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday, calling him…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[209232,209234,156,209237,688,209236,209233,111,139,69,209231,209235,437],"class_list":["post-406241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-abc-network-controversy","tag-disney-support-kimmel","tag-entertainment","tag-first-lady-criticism-of-kimmel","tag-jimmy-kimmel","tag-kimmel-expectant-widow-joke","tag-melania-trump-statement","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-trump-jimmy-kimmel-feud","tag-truth-social-trump-posts","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406241","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=406241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}