Jimmy Kimmel explains ‘expectant widow’ comment, declines to apologize

ABC late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel explained his controversial joke about First Lady Melania Trump, but declined to apologize for offending her.

On Monday, President Trump repeated his demand that ABC fire the longtime show host over a joke that aired on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” two days before the White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner in Washington. Kimmel, who has headlined that event before, staged a pretend roast during his Thursday night broadcast that featured spliced-in footage of Melania Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President Vance and others.

During the bit, a tuxedo-clad Kimmel called the first lady “beautiful,” saying she had “the glow of an expectant widow.” There wasn’t much reaction to Kimmel’s comment at the time, Kimmel said during Monday’s show.

On Saturday, the White House Correspondents’ Assn. gala, to celebrate the 1st Amendment, was interrupted when a gunman sprinted past security at the Washington Hilton, where the event was being held. He did not reach the ballroom. The suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, of Torrance, has since been charged with attempting to assassinate the president.

“There was no big reaction to [the joke] until this morning, when I greeted the day facing yet another Twitter vomit-storm and a call to fire me from our first lady,” Kimmel said during Monday night’s telecast.

“Obviously, it was a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they’re together,” Kimmel said.

“It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am,” Kimmel said. “It was not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination. And they know that.”

Kimmel added that he has long been vocal “speaking out against gun violence.”

Melania Trump, who appeared visibly shaken during the Saturday night scare, expressed her outrage over Kimmel’s comments in a social media post earlier Monday.

“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country,” she wrote. “His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens 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.”

ABC has not commented about the flap, which came seven months after the Walt Disney Co.-owned network briefly benched Kimmel over awkward remarks in the wake of the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

In that instance, Kimmel seemed to suggest the alleged shooter in Utah might have been a pro-Trump Republican and that MAGA supporters were trying to do “everything they can to score political points from” Kirk’s murder. Kimmel resumed his show days later.

On Monday, Kimmel brushed off the latest dust-up.

“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,” Kimmel said during Monday’s monologue.

Producers then cut to a video clip of Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaking with a Fox News reporter before the White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner when the mood was light. Later, the alleged gunman interrupted the festivities, prompting federal agents to shoot several rounds before tackling the suspect to the ground a floor above the ballroom.

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On Saturday, the reporter asked Leavitt whether Trump was “ready to rumble.”

“This speech tonight will be classic Donald J. Trump: It will be funny, it will be entertaining, there will be some shots fired tonight in the room,” Leavitt said. “Everyone should tune in, it’s going to be really great.”