“I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I think a great place to start… would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.”
Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel doubled down Monday night after facing intense backlash over a joke in which he said First Lady Melania Trump had the “glow of an expectant widow,” just two days before an assassination attempt on President Donald Trump’s life at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Kimmel insisted he would not apologize and argued that rather than political violence, the real issue is President Trump’s “hateful and violent rhetoric.”
Addressing the controversy during his monologue, Kimmel mocked the outrage surrounding his comments, saying he woke up to a “Twitter vomit storm” and calls for him to be fired, including from the First Lady herself.
“Again, five nights ago, it was a pretend roast,” Kimmel said. “It was not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination. And they know that.”
The backlash came after Kimmel delivered the line during a mock White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech on his Thursday show, where he also took additional shots at Melania Trump and the president. Days later, Cole Allen, a teacher and game developer from California, was arrested after attempting to attack the White House Correspondents’ Dinner venue, prompting critics to accuse Kimmel of contributing to a climate of political violence.
First Lady Melania Trump called Kimmel's remarks “hateful and violent rhetoric” and urged ABC to take action. “His monologue about my family isn’t comedy, his words are corrosive and deepen the political sickness within America,” she said, adding that “people like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.” President Trump also weighed in, calling Kimmel’s comments “shocking” and demanding he be fired from ABC.
Kimmel, however, refused to back down. While he said he was “sorry” for the fear caused by the weekend’s events, he dismissed any suggestion that his joke was connected to the attempted attack.
“Just because no one got killed doesn’t mean it wasn’t traumatic and scary,” Kimmel said. “But if you want us to believe that a joke I made three days before this dinner had any effect on anything that happened, well then, maybe someone should look into this psychic lady too.”
The comedian then pivoted to criticizing Trump, arguing that if the First Lady wants to address inflammatory rhetoric, she should start at home. “I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject,” Kimmel said. “I think a great place to start… would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.”
Kimmel also equated his joke with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s use of the phrase “shots fired" when she gave a preview of Trump's intended speech to media at the press event.
Libby’s Desk
Commentary and must-reads from Libby’s desk, straight to your inbox.
TPM Newsletter
The Post Millennial’s top stories, delivered to your inbox.
