A fellow comic has revealed how Jimmy Kimmel reacted to first lady Melania Trump calling him out.
Trump called Kimmel’s eponymous late-night show “hateful and violent” after he said she “had the glow of an expectant widow” just days before a gunman attempted to storm the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner with apparent designs on killing President Donald Trump and his Cabinet.
The attack was foiled, and despite Kimmel’s joke coming before the incident, he suffered a tidal wave of MAGA anger. Fellow host John Oliver has now revealed Kimmel’s immediate reaction to the saga.
Speaking on a special episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Oliver said Kimmel messaged a group chat of his fellow comics with the words “Oh, boy.”
The revelation came after Colbert asked the panel whether it had ever occurred to them that the president would have “strong feelings” about their programming.
“You know what’s even weirder? Doing a job that his wife has strong feelings about,” Kimmel said.
“Most of us have avoided that part,” Seth Meyers joked.
“It’s an amazing thing to get a text from Jimmy saying ‘Oh, boy,’ and then a picture of Melania mad at him. What a way to start the day!” Oliver joked.
Jimmy Fallon then added, “And then I sent a text to you guys, and I said, ‘Hey, don’t be mad at me, but I liked it.’ I think she’s got a point.”
“We’re all kind of happy when you get in trouble over there, and how do you feel when you wake up, and you see the attention?” Colbert asked.
“The saddest part of it is that I realize in those moments that the only four people who care are sitting right here,” Kimmel said. “It takes 12 hours for the rest of the people in my life to even figure out that anything’s going on.”
The show was a reunion of the Strike Force Five podcast, featuring Kimmel, Colbert, Oliver, Meyers, and Jimmy Fallon.
The final episode of The Late Show will air on Thursday, May 21. Colbert— who has had his run-ins with the Trump administration and whose show was canceled by Trump-friendly CBS three days after he criticized its parent company, Paramount Global, for settling a lawsuit with the president for $16 million—mentioned the end of his run during the special, to which Kimmel responded: “Don’t worry, give me a few months and it’ll be Strike Force Three.”
After the incident at the WHCD, Kimmel defended his joke, calling it a “light roast” about the 23-year age difference between the president and his wife.
“Our first lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,” Kimmel said during the sketch three days before the drama at the Hilton in D.C.
“[T]his is something far beyond the pale. Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC,” President Trump raged on Truth Social in response.
