LOS ANGELES, USA — Jimmy Kimmel said on Monday, April 28, 2026, that he would not retract remarks that drew criticism from Donald Trump and Melania Trump, after both called for his removal from television following a joke made last week.
“You know how sometimes you wake up in the morning and the first lady puts out a statement demanding you be fired from your job?” Kimmel said at the opening of his monologue.
“We’ve all been there, right?”
The dispute stems from comments Kimmel made in a mock version of a White House Correspondents’ Association dinner roast, during which he joked that Melania Trump was glowing “like an expectant widow.”
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Criticism From the White House
Following the remarks, Melania Trump criticised the comedian on X, writing that “Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country,” and describing him as a “coward” while calling on ABC to remove him from the air.
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.
People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to…
— First Lady Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) April 27, 2026
The president also publicly supported calls for Kimmel to be dismissed.
The criticism came days after a shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington, where a gunman attempted to breach security at an event attended by the president and senior officials.
Kimmel Defends Remarks
Kimmel said his comments were not intended to incite violence.
“It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am,” he said.
“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.”
He also expressed relief that no one was killed in what he described as a “traumatic and scary” incident.
“But if you want us to believe that a joke I made three days before this dinner had any effect on anything that happened, well then, maybe someone should look into this psychic lady, too,” he said.
Broader Exchange of Criticism
Kimmel questioned the criticism directed at his remarks, pointing to what he described as the president’s history of confrontational language toward critics.
“I understand that the first lady had a stressful experience over the weekend, and probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house. And also, I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do,” he said.
“And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.”
Previous Controversy
Kimmel said the situation recalled a previous episode in which he was temporarily taken off the air after remarks about a separate incident, before returning to television shortly afterward.
Trump had previously criticised late-night hosts and supported calls for their dismissal over jokes directed at him.
The latest exchange follows heightened tensions after the weekend’s security incident in Washington.
