Just hours after both President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump called for his firing, Jimmy Kimmel responded during his opening monologue on last night’s show. He defended the joke they were both incensed about and said it wasn’t a call to violence but instead a “light roast” that was about the age difference between the first couple.
Last week on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the host held a fake White House Correspondents Dinner, a few days ahead of the real White House Correspondents Dinner. He included footage of President Trump, Melania Trump, their family, members of the President’s Cabinet and various celebrities. During the bit, he said Melania had “a glow like an expectant widow.” The shot didn’t attract much attention at the time, as Kimmel is frequently critical of The Trumps on his late night show, but after a man broke into the White House Correspondents Dinner with multiple guns, allegedly attempting to kill the President, the joke started circulating.
On Monday, both President Trump and Melania Trump put out social media posts calling on Disney and ABC to do something about Kimmel’s behavior. The President directly called for him to be fired, while Melania more broadly told the network to “take a stand.” She also called him a “coward,” while the President took shots at his “terrible television ratings.”
Article continues belowDuring Kimmel’s response, which lasted more than ten minutes, he went over the timeline of what happened. He was, at times, empathetic to The Trumps and everyone who was at the White House Correspondents Dinner for going through such a traumatic event. He reiterated his stance against gun violence and agreed that the temperature of the political rhetoric needs to be lowered, before pointing the finger at the President himself and implying he’s the one who has turned up the volume. He also defended the joke and said it wasn’t a call for violence but instead supposed to be a shot at the age gap in the relationship. Here’s a portion of his quote…
Obviously (it) was a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they’re together. It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am. It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination, and they know that.
This isn’t the first time Kimmel has found himself at the center of controversy over remarks he made on his show. Last year, he was taken off the air in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk assassination. He accused Trump’s supporters of trying to use the political commentator’s murder to score points by “trying to characterize” the killer as “anything other than one of them.”
Exactly what he meant by the comments and whether he was trying to imply Kirk was shot by one of his own followers became the subject of a loud political debate. After the two companies that own the majority of local affiliate stations said they wouldn’t carry his show, Kimmel was suspended by ABC, though he was eventually reinstated.
Over the last decade, American late night shows have become increasingly political and in the eyes of many, divisive. Kimmel’s chief rival, Stephen Colbert, will be finishing up later this year, and many believe the decision to end his show was related to how political he’s become. Kimmel too has gotten louder and louder in recent years, though ABC has remained supportive, at least apart from his suspension last year, which is notable given larger issues that are also happening with late night in general.
It's unclear how ABC executives might feel about this latest Kimmel controversy or the way he addressed it, but it's worth noting his entire monologue has been made available to watch on YouTube. You can check it out below...
Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs on weeknights at 11:35 ET. Right now, the assumption from fans is that he'll be on again this evening, despite the President's calls for his termination. My guess is he won't directly address this controversy again, as everyone involved is likely eager to move on, but if the President drops additional statements today or the network gets involved, then the host may have no choice but to talk about it again.
