Melania Trump is calling on ABC to cancel Jimmy Kimmel Live! in the wake of Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt on the president during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
The first lady posted on X Monday morning condemning Kimmel following the comedian’s ill-timed joke last week, which called Melania an “expectant widow.”
In a skit on the late-night talk show on Thursday, Kimmel read jokes that he would have told if he had been asked to host the WHCD. One was, “Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.” In another, he said that if he bruised Trump’s ego, “It will only make your hands look less disgusting.”
But following a suspected shooter being arrested for opening fire at the WHCD host hotel — and Attorney General Todd Blanche revealing that investigators believe the suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, 31, was targeting members of Trump’s administration — Melania released a statement hitting back at Kimmel.
“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country,” she wrote. “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 spread hate. A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him. 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.”
A representative for ABC and Kimmel had no immediate comment.
The shooting marked the third time Trump’s security has been breached by a man with a gun who intended to cause the president harm.
The first lady’s statement follows ABC temporarily suspending Jimmy Kimmel Live! last September following threats from Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr. That incident was tied to a joke Kimmel made after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. When Kimmel returned to the air, he said his joke had been “ill-timed or unclear or maybe both” and added, “I get why you’re upset.”
More to come…
