Jimmy Kimmel is back in the middle of a political firestorm.
The ABC host drew the ire of Melania Trump after joking Thursday on his late-night show that the first lady “had a glow like an expectant widow.” Kimmel told the joke days before a gunman entered the building hosting the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night.
“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country,” Melania Trump wrote on X on Monday morning. “His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America.”
The first lady added that “people like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.”
“Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community,” Melania Trump’s post continued.
ABC suspended Kimmel’s show last fall for comments he made about Charlie Kirk’s killer, which drew the condemnation of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. Kimmel was reinstated by ABC days later following an outcry from free-speech advocates.
Nexstar and Sinclair, which each own hundreds of local TV stations, initially refused to air “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” though they eventually agreed to let their ABC affiliates show it.
Leaders at ABC and Disney, its parent company, now must decide whether to take any action against Kimmel and risk another boycott, or stand behind the comic.
It’s the latest challenge for new Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro, who’s already dealt with his company’s OpenAI deal falling apart and the shelving of a controversy-plagued season of “The Bachelorette.”
