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Jimmy Kimmel refused to apologize for Melania widow joke, offered an excuse instead

April 28, 2026 | | Print Article

ABC late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel refused on Monday to apologize for his joke about a dead President Donald Trump.

Last Thursday, Kimmel made a joke describing First Lady Melania Trump as an “expectant widow.” Two days later, a brainwashed leftist shooter opened fire at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in an attempt to take out the president’s Cabinet and perhaps the president himself.

Another two days later, the first lady posted a tweet slamming Kimmel for spreading “hate” and calling on ABC News “to take a stand.”

“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country,” she wrote. “His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America.”

The late-night host fired back later that evening by claiming his joke had been about the age difference between the president and the first lady, and by suggesting the president is the one full of real hate.

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“This was Thursday,” he said of his joke, “and there was no big reaction to it until this morning, when I greeted the day facing yet another Twitter vomit storm. I said, our first lady, Melania, is here. Look at her. So beautiful. This is from the glow. Like an expectant widow, which obviously was a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they were together.”

“It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80, and she’s younger than I am. It was not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination — and they know that. I’ve been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence in particular, but I understand that the first lady had a stressful experience over the weekend, and probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house,” he added.

Kimmel then took a shot at the president.

“I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do it, and I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it,” he said.

“Donald Trump is allowed to say whatever he wants to say, as are you, as am I, as are all of us. Because under the First Amendment, we have as Americans a right to free speech,” he added.

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And finally, Kimmel seemingly apologized for the trauma “everyone” at the WHCD went through on Saturday.

“But with that said, I am sorry that you and the president and everyone in that room on Saturday went through that,” Kimmel said. “I really am. Just because no one got killed, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t traumatic and scary. We should come together and be the best.”

The president has also weighed in.

“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,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”

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All this comes half a year or so after Kimmel was briefly suspended by ABC for making crass remarks about the murder of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.

However, the network quickly bent the knee and returned Kimmel to the air, upon which time he swore he’d never intended to make light of Kirk’s murder and assassination.

Vivek Saxena
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