ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel has finally crossed the line… and it could cost him his cushy late-night gig with the network.
First lady Melania Trump unloaded on ABC to fire Kimmel over his “hateful” language on Monday after the longtime late-night host referred to her as “an expectant widow” just days before the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was interrupted by a gunman.
“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,” Melania Trump posted on X.
“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,” the first lady continued.
“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.”
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…
— First Lady Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) April 27, 2026
Kimmel mocked President Donald Trump and the first lady during a White House Correspondents’ Dinner parody last week, calling her “an expectant widow” and joking about her marriage.
“Our first lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,” Kimmel said in his parody of the event last Thursday.
Just two days later, 31-year-old Cole Allen of Torrance, Calif., rushed a Secret Service checkpoint at the Washington Hilton on Saturday evening while armed with multiple weapons, and opened fire, striking a Secret Service agent. The officer survived, and Allen was taken into custody.
Kimmel, a vocal critic of the president and his family, has regularly attended anti-Trump and anti-ICE protests over the course of Trump’s second term.
However, Kimmel has a checkered history of also targeting Melania Trump with insensitive comments.
Following the 2018 White House Easter Egg Roll, Kimmel mocked first lady Melania Trump’s accent after playing a clip of her reading a book to children.
Kimmel’s dig at the first lady also comes on the heels of being taken off the air last September for a few days following backlash from affiliates in the wake of his comments about Charlie Kirk following his assassination.
The week-long suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” prompted widespread boycotts of Disney for alleged media suppression and First Amendment violations.
Kimmel failed to apologize upon his return to the air Sept. 23, but said: “It was never my intention to make light of a murder of a young man. I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.”
But President Trump was not happy about ABC’s decision to give him his show back.
“I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back,” he wrote in a Truth Social post. “The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled! Something happened between then and now because his audience is GONE, and his ‘talent’ was never there.”
During Saturday’s incident, Melania Trump was sitting between her husband and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt at the top table when gunshots were heard.
She looked visibly shocked at the sound of the shots and started to crawl off the stage before Secret Service agents moved her and the president to safety.
She appeared with President Trump and other administration officials in the White House briefing room, fewer than two hours later, appearing on the verge of tears when her husband spoke of past attempts on his life.
ABC has yet to issue a statement surrounding Kimmel’s comments at the time of publication.