Donald Trump has demanded that ABC fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, accusing him of inciting violence with a comedy sketch mocking the first lady.
The extraordinary demand came after Kimmel joked about Melania Trump having the “glow of an expectant widow” while he parodied the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last Thursday on his show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!
But in a Truth Social post on Monday—hours after Melania Trump put out a similar post—the president sought to link Kimmel’s sketch to the shooting that took place on Saturday night.
“Wow, 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,” he wrote, referencing Kimmel’s monologue.
“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.
“I appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel’s despicable call to violence, and normally would not be responsive to anything that he said but, this is something far beyond the pale. Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”
The call for Kimmel to be sacked came after he was also suspended last year, when Brendan Carr, the pro-Trump chair of the Federal Communications Commission, threatened the network over jokes Kimmel made about the president.
However, the suspension sparked a backlash amid allegations that Carr was attacking free speech, and ABC later brought Kimmel back on air.
Carr was at the White House Correspondents’ dinner on Saturday night—an annual event designed to celebrate the First Amendment. So too was Trump and members of the administration, despite their ongoing attacks against the press.
But things took a turn shortly into proceedings when alleged gunman Cole Tomas Allen attempted to storm the event at the Washington Hilton before being subdued by Secret Service agents.
Cole was charged on Monday with attempting to assassinate Trump. According to a note he reportedly sent to family members, the 31-year-old California teacher believed it was his duty to target Trump administration officials.
The president’s push for ABC to fire Kimmel came as White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also hit out at the TV host during her latest briefing on Monday.
“Who in their right minds says a wife would be glowing over the potential murder of her beloved husband?” she said.
“Having experienced what I did with the first lady on Saturday night, I can tell you that she was anything but that.
“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.”
The anger stems from a monologue Kimmel delivered on Thursday night, in which he hosted his own “alternative” to the annual White House Correspondents’ dinner.
“Our president is a delicate snowflake with the thinnest, fat skin of any human being ever, and that means there’s going to be no comedian this year,” Kimmel said.
“So I thought, why not take a page from the Kid Rock alternative half-time show and do some of the jokes a comedian might do if our president wasn’t a trembling drama queen who’s scared of comedy.”
Standing behind a fake correspondents’ dinner podium, Kimmel took aim at Trump, interspersed with footage of the president and his orbit from previous dinners.
“Our First Lady, Melania, is here,” he joked. “Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”
