Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel is refusing to apologize after the White House and First Lady Melania Trump called for his firing over a joke aired on Jimmy Kimmel Live! two days before a gunman breached security at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
On his Thursday, April 24 broadcast, Kimmel delivered a nine-minute mock version of the Washington dinner. One joke targeted the First Lady: that she had the glow of an expectant widow — a reference to the age gap between her and the president.
The remark went largely unnoticed until Saturday night, when 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen of California forced past a checkpoint at the Washington Hilton and fired on a Secret Service officer. The officer survived. The president and First Lady were evacuated. Investigators said Allen had sent family a written statement outlining intent to target administration officials before the attack.
By Monday morning, the First Lady posted a public statement calling Kimmel’s words hateful and violent rhetoric meant to divide the country and labeling him a coward. She urged his network to stop enabling what she called atrocious behavior. The president demanded Kimmel’s immediate termination. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a Monday briefing that the language from entertainers was indistinguishable from the shooter’s written manifesto.
Kimmel replied on Monday night’s show, saying the joke was about the couple’s age difference and the tension visible in their public appearances — not a suggestion of violence — and that the White House knew it. He expressed sympathy for what the First Lady experienced Saturday while arguing political comedy about public figures falls within free expression.
The dispute reaches South Carolina directly. Rep. Nancy Mace, who represents the state’s First Congressional District, said publicly that Kimmel should be fired. Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina’s senior senator, has previously criticized Kimmel’s monologues as partisan attacks dressed up as comedy. For Spartanburg-area viewers, the fight over what late-night hosts may say about the First Family carries fresh weight after Saturday night.
