A political and media controversy has erupted involving US President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel.
First lady Melania Trump publicly criticized Kimmel on Monday and called on television station ABC to take action against him. The president went further, calling for Kimmel to be completely removed from his role.
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At the center of the controversy is Kimmel’s comment in a comedic monologue on Thursday in which he described Melania Trump as having “the glow of a pregnant widow,” a comment Trump described as a “despicable call to violence.”
Here’s what you need to know about this controversy.
What did Kimmel say?
The controversy began when Kimmel joked about the first lady during a segment related to Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
“Our first lady, First Lady Melania, is here. Look at First Lady Melania, she’s so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have the glow of a pregnant widow,” Kimmel said at the White House Correspondents’ Alternative Dinner on his show.
Kimmel also mocked the first lady’s documentary Melania, which did not perform well at the box office and was poorly received by critics.
“Mrs. First Lady, I would like to congratulate you on your great accomplishment: the world’s first static photograph,” Kimmel said.
The controversy comes in the backdrop of a shooting late Saturday when an armed man tried to enter a hall where President Trump, the first lady, other members of the White House and hundreds of journalists were in attendance.
After the incident, a video of Kimmel mocking Melania sparked outrage from some members of the president’s Republican Party.
How did the Trumps react?
The joke was based on the recognition that the first lady often appears moody in public, but Trump’s supporters linked the comment to the shooting.
“We should not give people like Kimmel the opportunity to enter our homes every night to spread hate. Kimmel, a coward, hides behind ABC because he knows ABC will continue to operate in hiding to protect himself,” Melania wrote to X.
“Enough is enough. It’s time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s brutal acts at the expense of our communities?”
Her husband also felt free to criticize the late-night comedian. He went further and demanded that he be fired.
“So many people are outraged by Mr. Kimmel’s despicable calls for violence, and normally would not react to anything he says, but this is an outrage,” the president said on his Truth social platform.
He added that ABC and its parent company, the Walt Disney Co., should “immediately fire Jimmy Kimmel.”
The White House echoed the controversy. “Who in their right mind would say that a wife would be outraged that her beloved husband might be killed?” spokeswoman Caroline Levitt told reporters.
Kimmel responded by saying his remarks had been misinterpreted and were not a “call for assassination.” “It was a very light joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 years old and she’s younger than me,” he said.
Have they had trouble with Kimmel in the past?
Yes, the current dispute is part of a long-standing pattern of tension between Kimmel and the Trumps.
The president and the late-night host have had a tense relationship for years, largely due to Kimmel frequently criticizing and mocking Trump on his show.
President Trump has often accused comedians and journalists of bias, and Kimmel is one of those who has been named in the past.
ABC suspended Mr. Kimmel last year after the Trump administration threatened to take action against the station over comments by the comedian suggesting that a Republican may have been responsible for the murder of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr said at the time.
“These companies can find a way to change their behavior to take action against Kimmel, or the FCC will have additional work to do down the road,” he said.
After backlash from free speech advocates, ABC reinstated Kimmel less than a week later.
In an interview Sunday, President Trump was furious when CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell read out the manifesto of Cole Thomas Allen, the suspect in Saturday’s attack, during an interview on 60 Minutes.
When O’Donnell cited the attacker’s claims, Trump interrupted her and criticized her for broadcasting her remarks.
“You are a disgrace,” he slammed O’Donnell. “I’m not a pedophile. You read some crap from a sick person…and you shouldn’t read that on 60 Minutes.”
CBS is owned by Paramount Skydance, whose chairman and CEO, David Ellison, is the son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, an ally of President Trump.
In July 2025, the department paid $16 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Trump. Trump claimed that “60 Minutes” edited an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris to favor Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate in the 2024 presidential election.
It also appointed former Trump administration official Kenneth Weinstein as an ombudsman to investigate claims of political bias.
According to reports, Ellison visited the White House in December and told President Trump that he would make “fundamental changes” if Paramount were successful in acquiring CNN’s parent company.
Paramount Skydance is also embroiled in a fierce battle with streaming giant Netflix over its acquisition of Warner Bros., a move seen by many industry insiders as part of Mr. Ellison’s efforts to reshape the U.S. media landscape.
