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Jimmy Kimmel pushed back against the Trumps' criticism of his joke on Monday and said it was a reference to her age difference with President Trump and not a call for his assassination.
Jimmy Kimmel (REUTERS)Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel's “a glow like an expectant widow” joke for First Lady Melania Trump aged rather poorly after the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner (WHCD) on Saturday. So much so that Melania and US President Donald Trump publicly called on ABC to dismiss Kimmel.
"Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow," Kimmel had said in a segment billed as an "alternative" to the annual media gala on the April 23 episode.
However, the comedian pushed back against the Trumps' criticism of his joke on Monday and said it was a reference to her age difference with President Trump and not a call for his assassination.
Kimmel called the experience “deja vu,” in reference to the temporary suspension he faced for comments about the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“No one was hurt, thank goodness,” he said, addressing the shooting at the black-tie event on 25 April. “Just (because) no one got killed doesn't mean it wasn't traumatic and scary,” Kimmel added.
Here's what Jimmy Kimmel said about the ‘expectant widow’ joke:
Jimmy Kimmel joked about waking up to Melania Trump issuing a statement “demanding you be fired from your job” during his monologue on the 27 April episode of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ and described her reaction as a “Twitter vomit storm.”
Kimmel addressed the criticism over the “expectant widow” joke and said it was "a very light roast joke" and was “obviously…about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they're together” and “not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination.”
Kimmel agreed with the first lady’s comments about rejecting “hateful and violent rhetoric,” and said, “…and I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.”
What did the Trumps say?
“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. 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,” Melania Trump said in a post on Monday.
Shortly after her post, President Trump called for Kimmel to be fired in a Truth Social post: “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.”
‘Look into this psychic lady’: Kimmel calls out Karoline Leavitt
Jimmy Kimmel also quipped that if people believe his joke had an effect on what happened at the dinner, then maybe someone should look into White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt talking about the president’s planned speech and saying, “there’ll be some shots fired tonight” in a red-carpet interview at the dinner.
"If you want us to believe that a joke I made three days before this dinner had any effect on anything that happened, well then maybe someone should look into this psychic lady too," Kimmel said of Leavitt.
Kimmel takes shot at Trump's ‘top secret ballroom’
Jimmy Kimmel also addressed US President Trump's push to build the White House ballroom in response to the shooting, and said: “One thing about Donald Trump, there's nothing he can't turn into a real estate opportunity. He immediately turned this into an argument in favour of his ballroom.”
Trump wrote, “This event would never have happened with the militarily top secret ballroom currently under construction at the White House.”
Kimmel responded to it with: “I hate to be the bearer of bad news. I'm afraid that the top-secret ballroom is no longer top-secret.”
About the Author
Arshdeep Kaur
Arshdeep Kaur is a Senior Content Producer at Mint, where she reports and edits across national and international politics, business and culture‑adjacent trending stories for digital audience. With five years in the newsroom, she strives to balance the speed and rigor of fast‑moving news cycles and longer, context‑rich explainers. <br><br> Before joining LiveMint, Arshdeep served as a Senior Sub‑Editor at Business Standard and earlier as a Sub‑Editor at Asian News International (ANI). Her experience spans live news flows, enterprise features, and multi‑platform packaging. <br><br> At Mint, she regularly writes explainers, quick takes, and visuals‑led stories that are optimized for search and social, while maintaining the publication’s standards for accuracy and clarity. She collaborates closely with editors and the audience team to frame angles that resonate with readers in India and abroad, and to translate complex developments into accessible, high‑impact journalism. <br><br> Arshdeep's academic training underpins her interest towards policy and markets. She earned an MA in Economics from Panjab University and holds a Post‑Graduate Diploma in Broadcast Journalism from the India Today Media Institute (ITMI). This blend of economics and broadcast storytelling informs her coverage of public policy, elections, macro themes, and the consumer‑internet zeitgeist. <br><br> Arshdeep is based in New Delhi, where she tracks breaking developments and longer‑horizon storylines that shape public discourse.
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