Jimmy Kimmel would like it to be known that he is explicitly not calling for the assassination of Donald Trump. He is, in fact, adamantly opposed to crazed gunmen rushing the president with the intention of riddling him with bullets. The very last thing he wants to see is a sniper’s bullet ending Trump’s life in an incredible display of bloody violence.
This apparently necessary explanation comes after Kimmel cracked a joke on April 23 as part of a fake White House Correspondents’ dinner. He cut to stock footage of Melania Trump and said that she had the glow of “an expectant widow”.
Jimmy Kimmel: "Our First Lady is here. Mrs. Trump… you have a glow like an expectant widow." pic.twitter.com/LdloPzMyXr
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) April 26, 2026
The joke here is that Kimmel is insinuating that Melania is desperate for Trump to die so she can finally be rid of him, perhaps even nudging him towards the afterlife herself. But, after a gunman tried his luck at the actual White House Correspondents’ Dinner, MAGA revisited the joke and realized that, actually, they were kind of offended by it.
Donald Trump weighed in, saying:
“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. Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”
Melania herself even spoke up, calling for Kimmel to be fired for spreading hate:
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.
— First Lady Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) April 27, 2026
People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to…
“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.”
Can’t they take a joke?
Now Kimmel has hit back, insisting his “expectant widow” jab was merely a reference to “their age difference and the look of joy we see on [Melania’s] face” every time the First Lady and the President are together”, and underlined that this was just a joke:
Unbelievable!
— 🚫StopTheInsanity‼️ (@JustStop2015) April 28, 2026
Jimmy Kimmel refused to apologize for his Melania “widow” joke, instead citing Donald Trump’s history of what he described as hateful and violent rhetoric. pic.twitter.com/cSKg8poXx7
“It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am. It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination. And they know that. I’ve been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence, in particular.
But I understand that the First Lady had a stressful experience over the weekend. And probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house. And also, I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do. And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.”
It seems that if Kimmel is going down, he’s going down swinging. As for offended MAGA? Well, it’s interesting that whenever their comedy faves are criticized for offensive jokes, they roll their eyes, say this is all just a part of comedy, and that people these days can’t take a joke. When it’s turned around on them?
Suddenly, they’re clutching their purses and gasping like a scandalized great aunt. Kimmel is hardly the most adventurous comedian around, but if he annoys the Trumps this much he’s doing something right.
Published: Apr 28, 2026 08:29 am