WASHINGTON: Comedian Jimmy Kimmel hit back at Donald Trump's call for him to lose his job over a joke about First Lady Melania Trump days before an alleged attempt to assassinate the US president.
Trump said Kimmel -- who said the joke was about the couple's age difference -- should be fired for likening the first lady to an "expectant widow."
In a show last week, Kimmel had portrayed himself in as the MC of upcoming White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington on Saturday, addressing the first lady and saying "Mrs Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow."
Trump turns 80 in June and is the oldest president to take office in the United States. His wife, a former model who was born in Slovenia, is 56.
The first lady also lashed out at Kimmel in a statement, calling on broadcaster ABC to "take a stand" against the late-night host.
Kimmel brushed off the criticism on his show Monday, saying that the gag was "obviously... a joke about their age difference."
"It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he's almost 80 and she's younger than I am," Kimmel said. "It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination, and they know that."
The White House went back on the attack Tuesday, with communications director Steven Cheung on X describing Kimmel as a "shit human" for "doubling down on that joke instead of doing the decent thing by apologizing."
The suspect accused of attacking Saturday's media gala was charged in court Monday with trying to assassinate the president.
As a prominent late-night comedy host, Kimmel has been at the heart of the debate over constitutionally protected speech.
He was briefly suspended from his show last September following government pressure after he said Trump's hard-right MAGA movement was trying to make political capital from the assassination of influencer Charlie Kirk.