Jimmy Kimmel, who was heavily criticized by the Trump administration and its supporters after making a joke about Melania Trump becoming a widow, has spoken out about the pressure to have him fired.
The host made a joke about Melania Trump having “the glow of a future widow” in an episode of his show last week, just a few days before the shooting that took place during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner last Saturday (25).
After that, Melania called for Kimmel to be fired. “Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is meant to divide our country. His monologue about my family is not comedy — his words are corrosive and deepen the political illness within America. People like Kimmel should not have the opportunity to enter our homes every night to spread hate.”
“A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will continue to protect him. Enough is enough! It’s time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership tolerate Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community?”, the first lady added.
Then, on Monday’s show (27), Kimmel addressed Melania’s request. “You know when you wake up in the morning and the first lady has issued a statement demanding your firing? We’ve all been there, right?” he joked in his monologue.
After addressing the events of the weekend, the host repeated the joke and emphasized that it was about the age difference between Melania and her husband. “It was a light joke about the fact that he’s nearly 80 and she’s younger than me. It was in no way a call for assassination. And they know that,” Kimmel clarified.
“For many years I’ve spoken out strongly against gun violence, in particular. But I understand that the first lady had a stressful experience over the weekend, and that probably every weekend is quite stressful in that house,” he added.
He then took Melania’s words and turned them against her. “I agree that hateful and violent speech is something we should reject. I agree, and I think a great place to start reducing that would be to talk to your husband about it.”
“By the way, I should point out that Donald Trump has the right to say whatever he wants, just like you, me, and all of us, because under the First Amendment, we Americans have the right to freedom of speech,” Kimmel emphasized, before being applauded by the audience.
Finally, the host took the opportunity to express his solidarity with Melania and the other guests at the event. “I’m sorry that you, the president, and everyone in that room on Saturday had to go through that. Truly. Just because no one died doesn’t mean it wasn’t traumatic. It’s frightening, and we should come together and do the best we can.”
+ Click here to watch the video
Photo and video: Public domain. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
