Comedian Kimmel hits back at criticism over Melania Trump joke

Comedian Jimmy Kimmel hit back on Monday at Donald Trump’s call for him to lose his job over a joke about First Lady Melania Trump days before an alleged attempt to assassinate the US president.

Trump said Kimmel should be fired for likening the first lady to an “expectant widow” on Thursday, two days before a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington that the couple attended.

Kimmel portrayed himself in a monologue as the MC of that upcoming banquet. It included a segment in which he addressed the first lady in the audience and said: “Mrs Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”

Trump turns 80 in June and is the oldest president to take office in the United States. His wife, a former model who was born in Slovenia, is 56.

The first lady also lashed out at Kimmel in a rare statement, calling on US broadcaster ABC to “take a stand” against the late-night host over his comments.

However, Kimmel brushed off the criticism in a monologue on his talk show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” late on Monday, saying that the gag was “obviously… a joke about their age difference.”

“It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am,” Kimmel said.

“It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination, and they know that.”

Kimmel also appeared to invite Trump onto his show to discuss “hateful” rhetoric — an apparent reference to the president’s inflammatory comments about groups including migrants, political opponents and the media.

“I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject,” Kimmel said.

“I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it,” he added, addressing the first lady.

The president had earlier accused Kimmel in a Truth Social post of a “despicable call to violence” and said he should “be immediately fired.”

As a prominent late-night comedy host, Kimmel has been at the heart of the debate over constitutionally protected speech.

He was briefly suspended from his show last September following government pressure after he said Trump’s hard-right MAGA movement was trying to make political capital from the assassination of influencer Charlie Kirk.