Ali-Frazier. Tyson-Holyfield. Trump-Kimmel.
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Historic fights typically get a rematch, so it’s fitting that the president and the comedian are squaring off again.
Melania Trump kicked things off this time. The first lady criticized the late-night host for joking that she “had a glow like an expectant widow.” Kimmel’s joke came on Thursday, days before the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country,” Melania Trump wrote on X on Monday morning.
(My colleague Peter Kafka highlighted the first lady’s decision to use X to go after Kimmel when her husband owns a rival social-media platform. She also posted there, but the engagement on Truth Social wasn’t nearly as strong.)
Trump jumped in on the action, calling on Disney and ABC to “immediately fire” Kimmel.
In the first minute of his show on Monday, Kimmel doubled down on the joke.
Trump-Kimmel II has most of the same main characters, with one notable exception.
The reignited beef is the first big test for new Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro. It’s also in a corner of the business that’s arguably his biggest blind spot. A longtime parks guru, D’Amaro has a lot less experience dealing with the Hollywood side of things.
Notably, his former competition could be his biggest asset. Disney executive Dana Walden, who was vying with D’Amaro for former CEO Bob Iger’s job, leads the company’s entertainment segment. Walden and Iger decided to briefly pull Kimmel off the air last year.
Even if D’Amaro wants to steer clear of the drama, he might not have a choice. Last time it was two major station owners — Sinclair and Nexstar — that took “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off their ABC affiliate stations, ratcheting up the beef.
