President Donald Trump is reigniting his long-simmering feud with Jimmy Kimmel — and his pressure campaign on ABC and parent company Disney to part ways with the late night host.
Loading audio narration…
“Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social Post on Monday afternoon.
Trump’s call puts a potentially fraught issue on Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro’s plate after the executive took over for Bob Iger just months ago.
Hours before Trump’s post, first lady Melania Trump similarly expressed outrage over Kimmel’s Thursday night monologue, in which the comedian gave a faux-White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech to lament the decision to not have a comedian deliver a routine during the dinner, as is usually tradition. The correspondents association, an organization for reporters who cover the White House, elected to have a mentalist provide the evening’s entertainment instead.
During the sketch, Kimmel said, “And, of course, our first lady Melania is here. Look at Mel — so beautiful, you have the glow of an expectant widow.”
“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country,” Melania Trump wrote on X on Monday morning in a rare public statement. “His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America.”
Trump, for his part, wrote that he appreciated 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.”
In his post, the president said that 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.”
“He showed a fake video of the First Lady, Melania, and our son, Barron, like they were actually sitting in his studio, listening to him speak, which they weren’t, and never would be,” Trump wrote.
As part of Kimmel’s sketch, the comedian showed clips of Trump and other well-known figures reacting to his jokes. The footage appeared to be from previously recorded events, including Trump’s State of the Union. Among the celebrities depicted was wrestling icon Hulk Hogan, who died in July.
On Saturday evening, just as the annual dinner was about to begin, a gunman tried to rush through security. Authorities have said the suspect, Cole Allen, shot a Secret Service officer in their protective gear before being arrested. Allen is expected to appear in federal court on Monday.
Trump, the first lady, Vice President JD Vance, and other members of the Cabinet were rushed out of the ballroom where the dinner was occurring. Trump later told reporters at the White House that he wanted the dinner to resume but was told that for security reasons that it needed to be canceled.
ABC suspended Kimmel last fall for comments he made following the assassination of conservative podcaster and organizer Charlie Kirk. Democratic and even some Republican lawmakers criticized FCC Chairman Brendan Carr for jawboning local ABC affiliates to stop broadcasting Kimmel as criticism spread over the comedian’s remarks.
Ultimately, Kimmel was reinstated days later and experienced a brief surge in ratings as fellow late night hosts railed around him.
In December, Kimmel signed a one-year contract extension with ABC to continue “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” through May 2027.
