Melania Trump Calls For Jimmy Kimmel To Be Fired After ‘expectant Widow’ Joke In Whcd Skit

First lady Melania Trump on Monday called on ABC to take action against late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over jokes he made during a parody skit of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner that aired days before a shooting took place at the actual event.

The comedian delivered a monologue Thursday on his show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in which he joked that the first lady looked like she had a “glow like an expectant widow.” The skit aired just two days before a shooter stormed Saturday’s WHCD dinner where President Donald Trump, the first lady, Vice President JD Vance and other top administration officials were in attendance and evacuated.

“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 said in a statement Monday. “People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.”

The first lady accused ABC — the network that airs the show — of protecting him.

“A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him,” she said. “Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.”

Donald Trump on Monday also called on ABC and its parent company Disney to fire the comedian over his monologue.

“Jimmy Kimmel, who is in no way funny as attested to by his terrible Television Ratings, made a statement on his Show that is really shocking ... A day later a lunatic tried entering the ballroom of the White House Correspondents Dinner, loaded up with a shotgun, handgun, and many knives. He was there for a very obvious and sinister reason,” the president wrote on Truth Social.

"Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC," he added.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed the first lady's criticism at a press briefing, condemning Kimmel's remarks as inappropriate in light of this weekend's shooting.

“Who in their right mind says a wife would be glowing over the potential murder of her beloved husband? And having experienced what I did with the first lady on Saturday night, I can tell you that she was anything but that,” Leavitt told reporters Monday. “This kind of rhetoric about the president, the first lady and his supporters, is completely deranged, and it's unbelievable that the American people are consuming it night after night after night.”

While the actual event, which this year took place at the Washington Hilton Hotel on Saturday, typically features a comedian, this year the White House Correspondents Association hired mentalist Oz Pearlman to serve as the evening’s entertainer.

In line with WHCD tradition, Kimmel posed as the comedian emceeing the fake dinner featured during his skit and made a series of jokes toward the Trump family as if he were chosen to roast the attendees.

“You’re looking good, Mr. President,” he said at one point during his fake monologue. “Who did your make-up, Kraft Singles?”

Representatives for Kimmel and ABC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Donald Trump has long clashed with Kimmel and other late-night television hosts, arguing the comedians display undue bias against conservatives. Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, who heads the body tasked with regulating broadcast channels like ABC, has been eyeing new ways to let TV networks abandon some content promoted by the president’s toughest critics, threatening to revoke licenses and opening investigations into broadcasters for a range of purported offenses.

Kimmel’s show was briefly preempted by Sinclair Broadcasting Group and Nexstar Media Group last September and later reinstated after the comedian faced backlash for comments he made about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

John Hendel contributed to this report.