Kimmel Responds To Melania Trump—Says She Should Start With The President On Dialing Back ‘Violent Rhetoric’

BreakingBusinessKimmel Responds To Melania Trump—Says She Should Start With The President On Dialing Back ‘Violent Rhetoric’BySiladitya Ray,Forbes Staff. Siladitya Ray is a New Delhi-based Forbes news team reporter.Follow AuthorApr 28, 2026, 12:14am EDTApr 28, 2026, 01:47am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.ToplineLate-night host Jimmy Kimmel on Monday night pushed back against criticism of a joke he made last week, where he said First Lady Melania Trump had “a glow like an expectant widow,” saying it was a reference to her age difference with President Donald Trump and not a call for his assassination.Jimmy Kimmel responded to calls from President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for him to be fired in his monologue on Monday.Disney via Getty ImagesKey FactsKimmel opened his monologue joking about waking up to the first lady issuing a statement “demanding you be fired from your job,” and described her reaction as a “Twitter vomit storm.”The late-night host addressed the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, saying, “no one was hurt, thank goodness,” and a lot of people were “shaken up.”Addressing the criticism, Kimmel said the “expectant widow” joke was “obviously…about their age difference” and “not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination.”Kimmel said he agrees with the first lady’s comments about rejecting “hateful and violent rhetoric” and added that he thinks a great place to start dialing that back “would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.”Kimmel then quipped that if people believe his joke had an effect on what happened at the dinner, “then maybe someone should look into this psychic lady,” before cutting to footage of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt talking up the president’s planned speech and saying: “there’ll be some shots fired tonight.” if (!window.cnxel) { window.cnxel = {}; window.cnxel.cmd = []; var iframe = document.createElement('iframe'); iframe.style.display = 'none'; iframe.onload = function() { var iframeDoc = iframe.contentWindow.document; var script = iframeDoc.createElement('script'); script.src = '//cd.elements.video/player.js?cid=62cec241-7d09-4462-afc2-f72f8d8ef40a'; script.setAttribute('defer', '1'); script.setAttribute('type', 'text/javascript'); iframeDoc.body.appendChild(script); }; document.head.appendChild(iframe); const preloadResourcesEndpoint = 'https://cds.elements.video/a/preload-resources-ovp.json'; fetch(preloadResourcesEndpoint, { priority: 'low' }) .then(response => { if (!response.ok) { throw new Error('Network response was not ok', preloadResourcesEndpoint); } return response.json(); }) .then(data => { const cssUrl = data.css; const cssUrlLink = document.createElement('link'); cssUrlLink.rel = 'stylesheet'; cssUrlLink.href = cssUrl; cssUrlLink.as = 'style'; cssUrlLink.media = 'print'; cssUrlLink.onload = function() { this.media = 'all'; }; document.head.appendChild(cssUrlLink); const hls = data.hls; const hlsScript = document.createElement('script'); hlsScript.src = hls; hlsScript.setAttribute('defer', '1'); hlsScript.setAttribute('type', 'text/javascript'); document.head.appendChild(hlsScript); }).catch(error => { console.error('There was a problem with the fetch operation:', error); }); } Crucial QuoteAddressing Trump’s push to build the White House ballroom in response to the shooting, Kimmel said: “One thing about Donald Trump,…

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