Jimmy Kimmel Addresses Calls for His Firing Over First Lady Joke

Late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel on April 27 responded to President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump’s calls for his firing over a joke he made about the first lady last week.

Kimmel staged a speech at a mock White House Correspondents’ Dinner during a segment of his show that aired on April 23—ahead of the April 25 event—in which he joked that the first lady “had a glow like an expectant widow.”

In response, Trump urged Disney and ABC to fire Kimmel, calling the segment “shocking.” Melania Trump also called for his firing, saying that Kimmel’s joke was “hateful and violent.”

During his monologue on an April 27 segment, Kimmel defended his joke, saying it was meant to be “a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s [Trump] almost 80 and she’s [Melania Trump] younger than I am.”

“It was not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination. And they know that I’ve been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence in particular,” the comedian said.

“And also, I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. 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.”

During the actual gala, which took place on April 25 at the Washington Hilton ballroom, a gunman tried to storm the event, firing at a Secret Service agent, leading to Trump, the first lady, and many administration officials being evacuated to safety. Authorities arrested the suspect, identified as Cole Allen, at the scene.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on April 26 that the suspect “set out to target folks ​that work in the administration, likely including the ⁠president.”

The investigation remains ongoing, with law enforcement officials examining the suspect’s writings and interviewing individuals who knew him. Investigators believed that Allen had acted alone.

Melania Trump said in an April 27 post on X that “people like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.”

“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country. His monologue about my family isn’t comedy—his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America,” she wrote.

This is not the first time Kimmel has come under fire for remarks he made on his show. In September 2025, his late-night show was suspended for several days after comments he made about conservative activist Charlie Kirk following his assassination. When the show returned on air, Kimmel said that he never intended to make light of Kirk’s death.

Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was assassinated while speaking to a crowd of students at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025. Authorities later arrested Tyler Robinson as the suspected gunman.