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Melania Trump calls on ABC to cancel Jimmy Kimmel Live! Following the attempted assassination of the president on Sunday during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
The First Lady posted on X on Monday morning condemning Kimmel after the comedian’s ill-timed joke last week in which she called Melania a “pregnant widow.”
In a skit on the late-night talk show Thursday, Kimmel recited jokes he would tell if he were asked to host WHCD. One was: “Look at Melania, she’s so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have the glow of a pregnant widow.” In another message, he said that if Trump’s ego was hurt, “it would make your hands look less disgusting.”
But after the suspected shooter was arrested for opening fire at WHCD’s host hotel — and Attorney General Todd Blanche revealed that investigators believe the suspect, Cole Thomas Allen, 31, was targeting members of the Trump administration — Melania issued a statement responding to Kimmel.
“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric aims to divide our country,” she wrote. “His monologue about my family is not comedy. His words corrode and deepen the political sickness within America. People like Kimmel should not have the opportunity to enter our homes every evening to spread hate. Kimmel is a coward, hiding behind ABC because he knows the network will continue covering to protect him. Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC leadership enable Kimmel’s outrageous behavior at the expense of our community.”
The First Lady’s statement comes after ABC was temporarily suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! Last September after threats from Trump’s FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. This incident was linked to a joke Kimmel told after the assassination of Charlie Kirk. When Kimmel returned to the air, he said his joke was “poorly timed or unclear or maybe both,” and added: “I understand why you’re upset.”
Kimmel’s supporters point out that Kimmel was likely joking about the president’s health — not targeting him for assassination — and that he could not have known what would have happened at WHCD. On the other hand, one could also rightly say that Kimmel should have known better since there had been prior attempts on Trump’s life and he was suspended for Kirk’s joke — which, like the similarly ambiguous “pregnant widow” comment — could be taken in more ways than one.
The WHCD shooting marks the third time Trump’s security perimeter has been breached by a gun-wielding man who intended to harm the president during his second term. The first was in July 2024, during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when Thomas Matthew Crooks shot Trump with a shotgun, grazing the president’s ear. The second was in September 2024, when Ryan Wesley Roth was seen carrying a gun at a golf tournament while Trump was playing on the course. In addition, there have been other incidents, such as two failed assassination plots allegedly committed by Iran.
A rep for ABC and Kimmel had no immediate comment.
