WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump called Monday for ABC to fire US comedian Jimmy Kimmel after he jokingly called first lady Melania Trump an “expectant widow” days before shooting at a dinner attended by the president.
“Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC,” the POTUS wrote in post on Truth Social.
“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 showed a fake video of the First Lady, Melania, and our son, Barron, like they were actually sitting in his studio, listening to him speak, which they weren’t, and never would be,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Kimmel’s monologue, which he made Thursday on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” days before the alleged gunman attempted to enter the event where President Trump, Melania Trump and other top officials were evacuated, included a joke that the first lady had “a glow like an expectant widow.”
Hours earlier, Melania Trump had implied Kimmel should lose his job over the same comments.
“His monologue about my family isn’t comedy, his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America,” Melania Trump said in a statement on X Monday morning.
“People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate. A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him. Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand.
How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community,” she continued.
The first lady accused ABC, the network that airs the show, of protecting him.
“A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him,” she said. “Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed the first lady’s criticism at a press briefing, condemning Kimmel’s remarks as inappropriate in light of this weekend’s shooting.
“Who in their right mind says a wife would be glowing over the potential murder of her beloved husband? And having experienced what I did with the first lady on Saturday night, I can tell you that she was anything but that,” Leavitt told reporters Monday.
“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.”
(With inputs from AP, AFP)