The Independent67%
Jimmy Kimmel defends Melania ‘widow’ joke after Trump called for him to be ‘immediately fired’ 63%
By Tom Murray0%
4/28/2026, 10:24:36 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 26 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Post Hoc (False Cause), and Availability Heuristic, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 41.3% saturation with 270 hits. Analysis detected 1,440 faulty-reasoning hits from 654 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 58.2% and a BS Rank of 63% (6,265 of 16,813 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 62.70% of the article peer group.
Jimmy Kimmel has insisted his joke about First Lady Melania Trump was not “a call to assassination” after President Donald Trump suggested the late-night talk show host should be “immediately fired” over the remarks.
Last week, Kimmel joked that the first lady had “a glow like an expectant widow,” in a sketch that aired days before a gunman attempted to storm the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night.
In light of the shooting incident, Kimmel’s joke resurfaced on social media and was vehemently condemned by Trump’s supporters and Melania herself.
On Monday night, Kimmel kicked off Jimmy Kimmel Live!
by describing the joke as a light roast about the couple’s age difference and “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,” he continued.
The host went on to express sympathy for the president and others at the event, saying they had endured a “traumatic and scary” ordeal.
“I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject,” Kimmel said.
“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.”
Melania responded to last week’s sketch in a post shared on X on Monday and described the talk show host as a “coward.”
She said: “Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country.
“His monologue about my family isn’t comedy – his words are corrosive and deepen the political sickness within America.
“People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.
“A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him.
“Enough is enough.
It is time for ABC to take a stand.
How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behaviour at the expense of our community.”
Soon after, Trump criticized the presenter in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, echoing comments his wife had made calling for ABC to “take a stand” against Kimmel.
Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Wow, Jimmy Kimmel, who is in no way funny as attested to by his terrible Television Ratings, made a statement on his Show that is really shocking.
“A day later a lunatic tried entering the ballroom of the White House Correspondents Dinner, loaded up with a shotgun, handgun, and many knives.
“He was there for a very obvious and sinister reason.
I appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel’s despicable call to violence, and normally would not be responsive to anything that he said but, this is something far beyond the pale.
“Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”
In September, the late-night presenter was taken off the air and suspended indefinitely following comments he made on the show after the murder of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, an ally of Trump’s.
The suspension was met with criticism from the public, some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, and political figures, who directed it at the U.S. administration for infringing on their freedom of speech and the free press, leading to Kimmel’s return five days later.
The comments came hours ahead of the King and Queen’s historic arrival in the US — Charles’s first trip to America as King and the most important foreign trip of his reign so far with the aim of strengthening the UK-US special relationship, which has been under serious strain in recent months.
The start of the visit has been overshadowed by the attempted assassination of the president on Saturday night at a Washington media dinner, when he was surrounded by Secret Service agents and bundled from the room.
ABC and Kimmel have been contacted for comment.
Additional reporting by PA
Analysis
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