Sorry, Jimmy Kimmel: It’s Not Funny to Joke About the First Lady as a Widow

Late-night “comedian” Jimmy Kimmel doubled down on his controversial comments from the weekend concerning First Lady Melania Trump, suggesting she was wishing her husband were dead.

In what was spun as a “roast” ahead of the ill-fated White House Correspondent’s Dinner on Saturday night at the Washington Hilton, Kimmel stood behind a mock-presidential lectern and delivered what was framed as a fake address.

“Look at Melania, so beautiful,” said the ABC television host. “Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”

In light of the attempted assassination of President Trump, Kimmel’s comments gained added scrutiny in the aftermath of the attack. 

In response, Mrs. Trump called for Kimmel to be fired. 

“His monologue about my family isn’t comedy — his words are corrosive and deepen the political sickness within America,” she said. “Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand.”

President Trump agreed, posting 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.”

On Monday night, a defiant Kimmel not only refused to apologize, but instead tried to explain away the comments.

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

That Jimmy Kimmel thinks it’s remotely funny to joke about Mrs. Trump becoming a widow at any age, regardless of why – let alone a welcome one – illustrates and exposes the crassness and poor judgement of someone who purports to be a comedian.

Given that Mr. Trump was previously shot in the ear by a would-be-assassin, and nearly shot while playing golf, and then targeted again on Saturday, you would think that any such reference would be off-limits.

Memo to Jimmy Kimmel: Violence and hate are never funny. Period.

Contrast Kimmel’s comments with how the legendary late-night host Johnny Carson responded to the attempt on President Reagan’s life outside the same hotel.

The Academy Awards had been scheduled for the night of March 30, 1981, but were postponed after the shooting. They decided to go on with the program the next evening, and this is what Carson said:

The president is in excellent condition at last reports. He’s been conducting business.

And he happens to be in very good spirits. After all, you must remember this is a man who yesterday, while he was in the hospital unable to speak, wrote on a sheet of paper, “All things considered, I’d rather be in Philadelphia.” So tonightthe show does go on.

Now two weeks ago, President Reagan videotaped an opening greeting for this occasion. We were in contact with the White House about two hours ago. And it was the president’s express wishes that we use that introduction.

And I might add, you might like to know that he also asked for a television set in his room so he could view this program tonight. Actually, the president was in such good form today, I was very tempted to call him and ask him if he had any more of those one-liners that I could use. So it is especially pleasing tonight, ladies and gentlemen, to be able to say, here is the president of the United States.

Jimmy Kimmel’s professional fate remains unknown, but this one thing is undeniable: If he wants to be funny, he could learn a whole lot from Johnny Carson.