First Lady Melania Trump has taken aim at late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel over a joke in which he called her an “expectant widow” – just days before last week’s shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Mrs Trump called Kimmel’s remarks “hateful and violent”, and said broadcaster ABC should take action against his “atrocious behaviour”.
It is the second time the current administration has conflicted with Kimmel, who was taken off air in September 2025 after his comments about the shooting of conservative identity Charlie Kirk.
At Saturday’s dinner, a gunman opened fire in an attack authorities say may have targeted Trump and his team.
The joke aired on Thursday, as Kimmel mocked the dinner in advance of the event.
“Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,” Kimmel ‘joked’.
On her various social media accounts, Mrs Trump said “people like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate”, and said the ABC should “take a stand”.
“His monologue about my family isn’t comedy – his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America,” she said.
“How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.”
In a post on Truth Social on Monday afternoon, Trump said he appreciated that so many were “incensed by Kimmel’s” remarks, accusing them of being a “call to violence”.
“[T]his is something far beyond the pale. Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC,” he wrote.
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White House backlash against Jimmy Kimmel ‘joke’ after dinner
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt further criticised Kimmel’s ‘joke’ in a press conference on Monday.
“This kind of rhetoric about the president, the first lady and his supporters is completely deranged,” she said.
Trump later told reporters that the dinner was “a rather traumatic experience” for his wife.
The suspect, identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, appeared in court on Monday and was charged with attempting to assassinate the president.
Jimmy Kimmel taken off air
Kimmel was taken off air last September after he made comments about the shooting of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
In a monologue, Kimmel said the “MAGA gang” was trying to “score political points” from the murder of Kirk. After much backlash and debate, the show was reinstated a week later.
Upon his return, Kimmel said he accepted that some people felt his remarks about Kirk’s death had been “ill-timed or unclear or maybe both”, adding: “I get why you’re upset.”
He is expected to make comment on the Trumps’ posts tonight.
Top image: Melania Trump. Image: Instagram