Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel dared to repeat the “hateful” ill-timed joke he made about first lady Melania Trump looking like an “expectant widow” in a bombed roast he delivered days before the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Kimmel, who narrowly dodged outright cancellation for making similarly distasteful jokes about Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September, took to the air with a vengeance in his Monday night show.
“This was like déjà vu for me today,” he said on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Kimmel explained that his mock roast featured in last Thursday’s show was intended to mirror those comedians usually impart at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which was nixed for this year’s celebration.
One joke during his bit took aim at the first lady.
“Our first lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,” Kimmel said.
He repeated the tasteless joke verbatim in his monologue on Monday after a failed assassination attempt on President Trump’s life and Melania calling him out for “hateful and violent rhetoric.”
At the dinner Saturday, accused gunman Cole Allen stormed into the Washington Hilton with the alleged intent to kill as many members of the Trump administration as possible.
Kimmel swore that his performance was “a pretend roast” far removed from the purported assassination attempt.
“There was no big reaction to it until this morning, when I faced yet another Twitter vomit storm and calls to fire me from our first lady,” Kimmel said.
He insisted that the joke was “about [Melania’s] age difference and the look of joy we see on her face” whenever she and Trump are together.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
