Donald Trump’s seemingly endless fixation with getting Jimmy Kimmel fired continued Thursday with the president lobbing yet another desperate demand at ABC to oust the late-night host.
“When is ABC Fake News Network firing seriously unfunny Jimmy Kimmel,” Trump wrote on Truth Social this morning (April 30). The president then claimed Kimmel “incompetently presides over one of the Lowest Rated shows on Television,” and added, “People are angry. It better be soon!!!”
It appears Trump’s latest complaint was prompted by some of Kimmel’s monologue jokes last night, where he continued to skewer the president and first lady, Melania Trump, for their reaction to a one-liner in his fake White House Correspondents’ Dinner bit. “Our first couple, Donald and Melania, lately have seemed closer than ever, and I like to think I played a part in that,” Kimmel quipped before showing a video of the couple’s awkward hand holding at a recent event with King Charles and Queen Camilla.
“Considering the week I’ve had with the first couple, I’m just going to say that is a completely normal way to interact for two people who are very much in love,” Kimmel joked. “Maybe that’s why his hands are all bruised, from Melania swatting them away.”
Trump and Kimmel of course have a long history of feuding, but the spat reared up again after Kimmel joked that Melania had a “glow like an expectant widow” during his fake White House Correspondents’ Dinner bit last Thursday (April 23). While the joke was obviously a dig at the 79-year-old president’s advanced age, the Trumps insisted it was far more sinister and violent after a man tried to carry out an attack at the actual White House Correspondents’ Dinner a few days later (April 25).
On his show earlier this week, Kimmel rebuffed the first couple’s demands that he be fired and defended the line as “a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger.” And while ABC and its parent company, Disney, did cow to political pressure following the uproar over a joke Kimmel made about the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk last year, the network has, so far, not indicated that they plan to take any action against Kimmel this time.
Still, the Trump admin appears ready to put as much pressure as it can on Disney. Earlier this week, the FCC ordered Disney’s eight company-owned ABC stations refile for license renewal within 30 days (despite paper work not being due until 2028 at the earliest). A Disney spokesperson said the company would defend its record “through the appropriate legal channels.”
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