ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel addressed “Twitter vomit storm” for his dismissal after President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump publicly demanded the network fire him over a joke. The controversy happened over the weekend.
Jimmy Kimmel defends his joke as Donald Trump demands ABC to fire him
Kimmel responded at the top of Monday night’s broadcast with, “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’ve all been there. Right?”
The host then dismantled the accusation that his joke was a coded call to violence. Jimmy Kimmel described the “expectant widow” line as a light roast about the visible discomfort Melania often displays alongside her nearly 80-year-old husband. “It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination. And they know that,” Kimmel stated.
He emphasized his years of advocacy against gun violence before making a counterpunch at the president. “I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.”
The coordinated pressure to fire Jimmy Kimmel began hours earlier on social media. Melania Trump led the charge on X (formerly Twitter), calling his monologue “corrosive” and accusing the network of enabling his behavior.
“A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him. Enough is enough,” she wrote. Her post demanded ABC take a stand against what she described as hate that deepens “political sickness.”
Donald Trump amplified the attack on Truth Social, criticizing Kimmel’s ratings and twisting the context of the sketch. He claimed Kimmel showed a “fake video” of Melania and Barron listening from the studio.
Trump added, “He then stated, ‘Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.’” He further wrote, “Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”
ABC has not issued a statement on the matter as of press time.
