Updated on: April 27, 2026 / 3:56 PM EDT / CBS News
President Trump on Monday called for comedian Jimmy Kimmel to be fired over jokes the late-night host made days before the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The president’s demand came hours after first lady Melania Trump, in a rare statement, described Kimmel’s remarks as “hateful and violent rhetoric.”
On his Thursday show, Kimmel staged a mock correspondents’ dinner — a format he said borrowed from a Kid Rock halftime sketch — after this year’s real event was set to feature mentalist Oz Pearlman. In the skit, Kimmel joked that Melania Trump had a “glow like an expectant widow.” Mr. Trump called the line a “call to violence” and wrote on Truth Social that “Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”
Melania Trump urged ABC to “take a stand,” posting that Kimmel’s monologue about her family “isn’t comedy” and accused him of spreading hate while hiding behind the network. She said his rhetoric “deepens the political sickness within America.”
The Trumps were sitting together at the correspondents’ dinner on Saturday when gunshots rang out; they were evacuated and no one was injured. The suspected gunman, Cole Allen, was taken into custody and was charged in federal court Monday with three counts, including attempting to assassinate the president.
CBS News has reached out to ABC for comment. Kimmel was previously pulled from the air for several nights in September after conservatives, including Mr. Trump, criticized remarks he made following the shooting of Charlie Kirk. When he returned on Sept. 23, Kimmel said it was “not my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what was obviously a deeply disturbed individual,” acknowledging some found his earlier comments offensive.