Donald Trump and Melania Trump Demand ABC Fire Jimmy Kimmel Over “Expectant Widow” Joke

Donald Trump and Melania Trump called on ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel on Monday after Kimmel delivered a joke in a Thursday segment on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in which he said, “Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”

The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner where the Trumps were later attending was cut short when a man armed with guns and knives tried to enter the Washington ballroom where the Trumps and much of the nation’s political leadership had gathered.

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Melania Trump said in a social media post later echoed by her husband, “People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate,” and she also wrote that Kimmel’s “hateful and violent rhetoric” is intended to divide the country.

Trump said in a Truth Social post that “Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired” by ABC and its parent Walt Disney Co., adding that the remarks were “something far beyond the pale.”

Kimmel responded by defending the joke as a “light roast” and saying it was “not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination.”

He also said, “I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject,” and argued, “I do, and I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.”

ABC did not immediately comment Monday, and the dispute set up what multiple outlets described as a free speech test for Disney’s handling of presidential pressure.

Kimmel’s Monday defense came after the White House urged ABC to punish him for the “expectant widow” remark, which the first lady described as “hateful and violent.”

In the BBC account, Kimmel said the original joke was a “light roast” about the “23-year age difference” between Donald Trump and Melania Trump, and he added, “It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination.”

AP News

Kimmel also said he had been “very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence in particular,” and he reiterated, “I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject.”

The BBC reported that Melania Trump wrote on X that “people like Kimmel shouldn't have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate,” and that President Trump said he appreciated that people were “incensed by Kimmel's” remarks, claiming they were a “call to violence.”

The AP and PBS accounts tied the controversy to a Thursday routine where Kimmel pretended to deliver a comedy routine at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.

PBS also reported that Kimmel’s speech included “false ‘cutaways’ to the Trumps and others, taken from video clips,” and that he noted Melania in the “audience,” saying, “Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”

The dispute also echoed an earlier confrontation: AP reported that Kimmel was suspended by ABC and some affiliates after comments made about assassinated conservative leader Charlie Kirk, and that ABC later brought him back after the suspension.

The “expectant widow” controversy unfolded in the shadow of a shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, which CNN and BBC described as occurring just days after Kimmel’s Thursday sketch.

“In short: Donald Trump says Jimmy Kimmel should be fired for a monologue he delivered days before the shooting incident at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner”

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

CNN reported that the alleged gunman attempted to enter the event where President Trump, Melania Trump and other top officials were evacuated, and it described the skit as having been delivered “two nights before the official event.”

BBC said three days after Kimmel’s joke, “a gunman opened fire at the White House Correspondents' Dinner” in Washington DC, and authorities said the gunman’s attack may have targeted members of the Trump administration.

The BBC identified the suspect as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, and it reported that Allen appeared in court on Monday where he was charged with attempting to assassinate the president and also charged with weapon offences relating to the incident.

CNBC similarly described a suspect identified as Cole Allen who “charged through a checkpoint and fired at Secret Service agents, wounding one, before he was subdued and arrested.”

AP and PBS both described the dinner being cut short when a man armed with guns and knives tried to enter the Washington ballroom where the Trumps and political leadership had gathered.

The NBC News report added that the suspect wrote in a note to his family that he believed it was his duty to target Trump administration officials, and it said he faces three charges, including attempting to assassinate the president of the United States.

While Trump and Melania Trump demanded ABC fire Kimmel, free speech advocates and other voices pushed back against what they framed as government pressure on media.

NBC News reported that the Committee for the First Amendment, led by actor Jane Fonda, criticized Trump for urging ABC to fire Kimmel, saying, “In America, satire is not a crime.”

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The group said the situation was “a test — of ABC, of the press, and of our collective commitment to the First Amendment,” and it warned, “The pressure is real. The intent is unmistakable.”

NBC News also quoted the organization’s call: “Speak up. Push back. Do not capitulate. Do not be silent,” and it said, “Our answer remains the same: No. We will not obey in advance. And ABC must not, either.”

CNN described the dispute as a “major free speech stress test for ABC’s parent company, Disney,” and it reported that ABC and Kimmel had not responded to CNN’s requests for comment.

CNN also quoted White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying Kimmel’s comments “led crazy people to believe crazy things, and they are inspired to commit violence because of those words. It has to stop.”

CNBC added that “Broadcasters have broad First Amendment rights to make jokes - even ones that are distasteful,” and it described the issue as an early test for Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro, who took the reins last month.

The dispute over Kimmel’s “expectant widow” joke is also tied to how ABC, Disney, and regulators respond to political pressure, with multiple outlets describing it as a test case.

CNBC said the issue poses an early test for Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro, who took the reins last month, and it noted that neither ABC nor Disney immediately responded to requests for comment.

BBC

CNN framed the controversy as a free speech stress test for Disney, and it described the pressure as coming alongside public scrutiny of how major corporations respond to presidential pressure.

AP and PBS both described a prior cycle in which Kimmel was suspended by ABC and some affiliates after comments about Charlie Kirk, with ABC and the stations later bringing him back.

AP also reported that Kimmel’s show was reinstated after he was suspended, and that ABC signed him to a one-year contract extension due to keep him on the air until May 2027, with his show airing on the network since January 2003.

BBC reported that Kimmel was taken off air last September after he made comments about the shooting of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, and that his show was reinstated a week later.

CNBC said Trump has repeatedly urged broadcasters to remove comedy or news programs he dislikes and pressed regulators to take action to revoke licenses of broadcasters he says are unfair to him.