Jimmy Kimmel kept his public argument with Melania Trump going after she criticized him for jokes he made during a spoof of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on his show. During the May 4 episode of his late-night program, Kimmel continued talking about the Trump family.
As he was responding to a series of posts from Donald Trump on Truth Social, he took a moment to comment on a photo of Melania smiling with several administration officials.
“At 11:04, he posted this even more unbelievable picture of Melania smiling, which is… I don’t know the last time we saw that,” Kimmel said during his monologue.
Later in the show, after showing a clip from Trump’s event in The Villages, Florida, Kimmel made more comments about Melania.
In the clip, Trump said that Melania didn’t like his Y.M.C.A. dancing. “Melania says it’s so unpresidential,” Trump told the crowd. “And she hates when I dance.”
Kimmel then made another joke about the couple’s relationship.
“Melania hates when you do things. No way! I can’t believe it. What a buzzkill. Why would she hate that? It’s so much fun. He’s just trying to have fun.” The argument started when Kimmel joked that Melania had the “glow of an unexpected widow” while mocking Trump and their relationship during the WHCD parody.
The controversy got bigger days later when the real White House Correspondents’ Dinner was connected to an alleged assassination attempt involving Cole Allen.
Authorities later charged Allen with trying to kill Trump and several other crimes. After the shooting, online criticism of Kimmel increased, with some saying his joke about Melania was too harsh, especially after what happened.
Melania later wrote a statement on X about Kimmel’s comments.
“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,” she wrote.
Trump also called for Kimmel to be removed from ABC, calling him “unfunny” and “a lowlife.”
Kimmel had already responded to Melania during the April 28 episode of his show. According to the BBC, after facing criticism for claims that his joke contributed to heated political talk, the late-night host defended his comments.
“I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject, I think a great place to start to dial that back is having a conversation with your husband about it,” the 58-year-old said.
The controversy came at the same time as more attention was being given to ABC and its parent company, The Walt Disney Company.
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