The White House did not hold back when Jimmy Kimmel took a swipe at Melania Trump at the Academy Awards this year. He had barely finished when the White House communications Director pushed back.
Kimmel presented the award for Best Documentary this year, reports the Independent. He also talked about the first lady’s documentary. Melania followed her journey as she prepared for her husband’s second term in office.
While introducing the category, Kimmel joked that some documentaries focus on serious global issues, while others show someone walking “around the White House trying on shoes.” He then added another line that appeared to subtly reference President Donald Trump.
“Oh man, is he gonna be mad his wife wasn’t nominated for this,” Kimmel said to the audience. The audience laughed. But the joke quickly fell flat. Steven Cheung responded on social media. He launched a personal attack on the comedian.
Jimmy Kimmel (Mr. Blackface) is a classless hack who is self-projecting his depression and sadness onto others. He lives a pathetic existence where nobody— not even his family— enjoys his miserable company. The only people giving him any attention are Hollywood Elites. BUH-BYE! https://t.co/cynWTtdidH
— Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung47) March 16, 2026
“Jimmy Kimmel (Mr. Blackface) is a classless hack who is self-projecting his depression and sadness onto others,” Cheung wrote on X. “He lives a pathetic existence where nobody – not even his family – enjoys his miserable company. The only people giving him any attention are Hollywood Elites. BUH-BYE!”
During the early 2000s Kimmel impersonated celebrities like Oprah wearing blackface. And Kimmel apologized for them in 2020. He said they were embarrassing. Online, there were those who agreed with Cheung. Others didn’t.
At the heart of Kimmel’s comments, is the documentary. Melania only in theaters for a short while before it was moved to streaming services. Kimmel admitted that he only watched the video in March. During Jimmy Kimmel Live! made fun of the documentary during the Iran conflict.
He said, ““While some might say that is not a, not a great look, to be plugging your vanity project while your husband’s bombing another country, Melania has never cared much about optics.” It seems he was already sharpening his jabs for the night.
Reports say that Amazon paid $40 million for the rights to Melania. They then spent another $35 million to promote it. Although there were naysayers, the film did well at the box office. It made about $7 million during its opening weekend.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝:https://t.co/94WjGOk6oG
🍿 Despite Hollywood’s relentless pre-release criticism, Melania achieved the highest opening weekend for a non-concert, non-fiction film in over a decade, grossing $7 million domestically. Brett Ratner’s film outpaced…
— Dr. Joseph Ford Cotto (@JosephFordCotto) March 7, 2026
Kimmel didn’t just mock Melania. He mentioned free speech while talking about making documentaries.
“There are some countries whose leaders don’t support free speech,” he told the audience. “I’m not at liberty to say which. Let’s just leave it at North Korea and CBS.”
The comedian didn’t leave it at the Oscars. Later, at the Vanity Fairs Oscars afterparty, he also spoke about how often he spoke about Trump. The president often features in his show monologues.
“We live in a ridiculous country,” he said. “We always lived in a ridiculous country, but it was always ridiculous in a fun, Mr. T kinda way. Now we’ve got a different Mr. T.” During the 1980s, Mr. T was a well-known actor starring in the movie the series, The A-Team. Kimmel’s current Mr. T reference, is the president.
Kimmel and Trump have taken swipes at each other for years.
