Jimmy Kimmel dismisses calls for his firing over 'expectant widow' joke

Jimmy Kimmel.

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel on Monday night shot back at the president and first lady after they called for ABC to fire him over a joke they said crossed the line and that took on a morbid meaning in the wake of the third assassination attempt against Donald Trump in less than two years. 

Kimmel, who courts controversy by repeatedly making conservatives the butt of his material, which is often laced with dark innuendo, insisted in his monologue on Monday night that the joke wasn't meant to inspire an assassination attempt. The bit, in which Kimmel said first lady Melania Trump has "a glow like an expectant widow," was part of last Thursday's show.

Less than 48 hours later, a 31-year-old gunman from California stormed the Washington Hilton with a shotgun in an apparent bid to kill Trump and members of his Cabinet. The suspect was apprehended outside the ballroom and charged on Monday with attempting to assassinate the President of the United States, as well as other firearms crimes.

Both the first lady and the president issued statements condemning Kimmel's brand of comedy, with Melania saying the host routinely targets the Trumps with "hateful and violent rhetoric." She added, "His monologue about my family isn’t comedy -- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America." President Trump was decidedly more blunt, saying Thursday's bit was "something far beyond the pale" and that "Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC."

Kimmel, however, dismissed the criticism, saying the material was "a very light roast joke" that was meant to make fun of "their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they're together." Then, he declared that President Trump is the one who should dial back the rhetoric.

"I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject," Kimmel said. "And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it."

In the days following Charlie Kirk's assassination last September, ABC briefly suspended Kimmel over hateful comments he made about Trump supporters, many of whom supported Kirk. The network has yet to publicly comment on this latest controversy, which continues a long line of material that targets conservatives and sometmes celebrates violence against them.

Kimmel in 2025 praised violent attacks on Tesla dealerships as extremist leftists protested DOGE. Kimmel infamously "joked" during the pandemic that unvaccinated Americans should be allowed to die in hospitals because they resisted getting a shot that was unproven and not thoroughly tested. Below, watch a clip of Kimmel's response on Monday evening.