The First Lady posted that “people like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate", following a joke the talkshow host made three days before the shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Now, her comments have backfired online...
What a difference a few hours make...
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Following calls for his firing from The White House and Melania Trump, US talkshow host Jimmy Kimmel has defended a joke he made, in which he called the First Lady an “expectant widow” just days before the recent shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
The host made the joke last Thursday (23 April), during his show Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
“Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,” he said.
On Saturday (25 April), a gunman fired several shots at the Hilton in Washington, before being apprehended.
Posting on Truth Social yesterday, the US president said Disney and ABC should immediately sack the comedian – and not for the first time.
Kimmel’s show was temporarily suspended by ABC last year following the murder of Charlie Kirk and Trump’s calls for the talkshow host to be fired.
The First Lady also posted on X that “people like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate”.
“His monologue about my family isn’t comedy – his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America. (...) How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behaviour at the expense of our community.”
Kimmel has defended the joke as a “very light roast”, saying that “obviously, it was a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they’re 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 continued. “And also, I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do, and I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it. Donald Trump is allowed to say whatever he wants to say, as are you and as am I. Because under the First Amendment, we have, as Americans, a right to free speech.”
Check out the clip below:
Now, the tables have turned, with Melania Trump finding herself at the centre of a textbook and viral example of tables turning.
The First Lady has been accused of hypocrisy, as many are pointing out that her husband's violent rhetoric are routinely “corrosive” and responsible for the “political sickness within America.”
“This is your husband by the way,” someone posted along with a screengrab of Trump celebrating the death of former director of the FBI Robert Mueller.
“You know this guy?” asked another who shared a screenshot of Donald Trump sharing a post which called for Democrats to be hanged.
Check out some of the viral reactions below:
As of publication, Jimmy Kimmel still has a job.
