Days prior, Kimmel gave his own White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech on his talk show, joking about the president and first lady.

Donald Trump calls for Jimmy Kimmel’s firing after ‘expectant widow’ joke about Melania Trump

Days prior, Kimmel gave his own White House Correspondents' Dinner speech on his talk show, joking about the president and first lady.

By Marina Watts

Marina Watts

Marina Watts is a news writer for with seven years experience covering entertainment, pop culture and celebrity news. Her previous work appears in PEOPLE, Bustle and Newsweek.

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April 27, 2026 5:08 p.m. ET

Donald Trump; Jimmy Kimmel. Credit:

- Donald Trump is doubling down on the first lady's call for ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel.

- "I appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel’s despicable call to violence," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

- The late-night host lambasted the president and first lady in a White House Correspondents' Dinner-style roast on Thursday evening.

Donald Trump is backing up Melania Trump's calls for ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel.

In a Truth Social post shared on Monday, the president blasted the late-night host hours after the first lady made a rare statement about Kimmel on X. Kimmel gave a mock White House Correspondents' Dinner speech on Thursday night, where he lambasted Trump for his AI-generated image of him as Jesus and called the first lady an "expectant widow."**

"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 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," Trump began his long-winded post.

"He then stated, 'Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,'" Trump continued. "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."**

Melania Trump and Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., in April 2026.

Kevin Mazur/Getty

During the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday evening, shots rang out at the Washington Hilton. Suspect Cole Allen allegedly rushed through a security checkpoint with multiple weapons and fired several gunshots. He was charged with attempting to assassinate the president on Monday as well as two federal gun charges, per PEOPLE.

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"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," Trump said. "Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

* *reached out to representatives for Jimmy Kimmel and ABC but did not receive an immediate response.**

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Hours earlier, Melania posted on X that "Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country. His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America. People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate."

Melania continued, "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."

ABC's parent company Disney temporarily pulled Kimmel's show from air in September following pressure from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr after the comedian made a joke about the "MAGA gang" response to the assassination of Charlie Kirk.**

On the Thursday evening episode of *Jimmy Kimmel Live*, the host took a moment to deliver his own White House Correspondents' Dinner speech since he wouldn't be at the event on Saturday, which marked Trump's first appearance while in office.**

Jimmy Kimmel on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live'.

Randy Holmes/Getty

"At the Correspondents' Dinner, typically someone funny shows up and roasts the luminaries and the president and everyone," Kimmel began. "But our president is a delicate snowflake with the thinnest fat skin of any human being ever, and that means there's gonna be no comedian this year."

Among his jokes about Trump's alleged connections with Jeffrey Epstein and the bruising on his hands, he also took aim at the first lady and her self-titled Amazon documentary, *Melania*. "Our first lady, Melania, is here. So beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow," he quipped. "And I want to congratulate you, Madam First Lady, on your huge accomplishment: the world's first motionless picture."

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