During Monday’s show, the comedian addressed the president and first lady’s criticism earlier that day for a controversial joke he made last Thursday.
WASHINGTON โ Jimmy Kimmel responded to criticism from first lady Melania Trump and President Donald Trump following a recent joke the comedian made that alluded to the president’s death.ย
The first lady called out Kimmel on Monday for what she called “atrocious behavior” over the comedian’s recent jabs at the president, their marriage, and other members of the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump said he wanted the late night host fired. ย ย
Kimmel on Thursday delivered a fake monologue presented as though he were speaking at the White House Correspondents’ Association’s annual dinner set to take place on Saturday, jesting that the first lady had a “glow like an expectant widow” and calling the president a “delicate snowflake.” ย
Two nights later, a gunman rushed through a security checkpoint at the hotel and opened fire on a floor above where the actual event was taking place. A Secret Service officer was injured but has since been released from the hospital. No other injuries were reported, and members of the Trump administration who were in attendance were safely evacuated as soon as gunfire was heard outside the gala.ย
The first lady shared aย post Monday on X, urging ABC to “take a stand.”ย
“His monologue about my family isnโt comedy,” she wrote. “His words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America. People like Kimmel shouldnโt have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.”ย ย
Later in the day,ย the president characterized Kimmel’s monologue as a “call to violence” and said “Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”
During Monday’s episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” the talk show host entered the stage to a cheering crowd that was chanting his name.ย
Kimmel opened the show by addressing the dispute with the president and first lady and the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner attack.ย
Kimmy spoke about the long legacy of comedians being invited to host the annual dinner to “roast” the presidential administration, which he has been invited to do in previous years. This year a mentalist was invited instead.ย
Kimmel said there was “no big reaction” to the roast Thursday “until this morning, when I greeted the day facing another Twitter vomit storm and a call to fire me from our first lady, Melania Trump, saying I should be fired because of a joke I made five days ago.”
The comedian appeared to double down on his reasoning behind the joke, calling it a “tradition” and reiterating that “it was a pretend roast.”ย
He then addressed the first lady, who spoke out against violent and hateful rhetoric.ย
“I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something that 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,” Kimmel said.ย
Kimmel went on to acknowledge that the dinner was likely very traumatic and scary for those in attendance but did not directly apologize for his recent jabs.ย
“I also should point out Donald Trump is allowed to say whatever he wants to say, as are you and as am I, as are all of us, because under the First Amendment, we have, as Americans, a right to free speech,” he continued.ย
The suspect in the correspondents’ dinner attack was charged Monday with attempted assassination of President Donald Trump.ย ย
