US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump have called on ABC to fire comedian and host Jimmy Kimmel after his joke last Sunday that Melania has "the glow of an expectant widow."
The remark about the president's wife was part of the comedian's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" show on Thursday, during which he presented a sketch on the theme of the "annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner."
The ceremony, organized two nights after Kimmel's performance, was interrupted when a man armed with guns and knives tried to break into the hall in Washington where it was being held in the presence of the US President and First Lady and a large number of the country's leadership.
"People like Kimmel should not have the chance to come into our homes every night to spread hate," Melania Trump wrote in a social media post, and President Trump later echoed that sentiment.
Kimmel explained last night that the joke was a lighthearted joke about the couple's age difference and "in no way a call for murder." He expressed regret that the president and everyone else at the dinner went through such a traumatic and frightening event.
"I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we need to reject. I really mean it, and I think a great place to start reducing that kind of rhetoric would be to have a conversation with your spouse about it," Kimmel said.
ABC did not comment on those statements yesterday.
Kimmel, dressed in a tuxedo, pretended to give a comedy performance during the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Thursday. The performance featured people in the room, using previously recorded footage. Kimmel then "spotted" Melania in the "audience" and said, "Mrs. Trump, you have the glow of an expectant widow."
After the First Lady's reaction to Kimmel's statement, Trump repeated a similar statement.
"I appreciate that you are so angry about Kimmel's terrible call for violence, and I would not normally react to anything he says, but this is completely unacceptable," the US president wrote on his Twitter platform.
"Jimmy Kimmel should be fired immediately" by ABC and its parent company Walt Disney, Trump said.
Melania Trump said Kimmel's "rhetoric of violence and hate" was intended to divide the country.
"Like a coward, Kimel hides behind ABC because he knows that network will continue to protect him. Enough is enough. It's time for ABC to take a stand," she wrote.
Kimmel has long targeted the president in his comedy appearances, and he took an additional aim after his conflict with the administration last fall.
Kimmel was suspended by ABC and some of the network's affiliates said they would remove him from the program after his comments about slain conservative leader Charlie Kirk. His suspension was encouraged by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr, and ABC later reinstated Kimmel.
Upon his return, Kimmel explained that by saying that many in MAGA country (an acronym for Trump's Make America Great Again slogan) were working hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk, he was not trying to trivialize Kirk's murder or give the impression that he was. He did not apologize, however, and criticized the network's owners for initially suspending him before later relenting.
Shortly after the incident, ABC signed Kimmel to a one-year contract extension that will keep him on the network until May 2027. Kimmel has hosted his show on the network since January 2003.
Cole Thomas Allen, from California, arrested after attempting to break into a correspondents' dinner with a gun on Saturday, was charged yesterday with attempting to assassinate the US president.
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