Megyn Kelly slams Jimmy Kimmel after First Lady Melania Trump and President Donald Trump are calling for the immediate firing of the late-night host, Kimmel, following a joke in which he referred to Mrs. Trump as having the “glow of an expectant widow.”
The controversy stems from a mock White House Correspondents’ Dinner monologue delivered by Kimmel on Thursday night. During the routine, Kimmel addressed a fake image of Melania Trump, stating, “Our first lady Melania, is here… Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.” The remarks have drawn sharp condemnation from the Trump family, who labeled the rhetoric as “hateful” and “corrosive” in the wake of recent threats against the President’s life.
Jimmy Kimmel: “Our First Lady is here. Mrs. Trump… you have a glow like an expectant widow.” pic.twitter.com/LdloPzMyXr
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) April 26, 2026
The First Lady of the United States commented, “Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country,” Melania Trump said in a rare public statement released Monday. “His words are corrosive and deepen the political sickness within America. People like Kimmel should not have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.”
The First Lady’s statement took direct aim at ABC, Kimmel’s home network, questioning how many times leadership would “enable Kimmel’s atrocious behaviour at the expense of our community.”
President Trump echoed his wife’s sentiments shortly after, taking to social media to demand that Disney and ABC terminate their contract with Kimmel. He described the joke as a despicable call to violence and noted the timing was particularly “shocking” given that a suspect was apprehended with multiple weapons at the actual White House Correspondents’ Dinner just 48 hours later.
The President wrote, “I appreciate 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. Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”
The backlash was further amplified by media commentator Megyn Kelly, who criticized Kimmel for being “insensitive” and “irresponsible.” Kelly pointed out the severity of making assassination adjacent jokes shortly after the July 2024 attempt on the President’s life and other subsequent security breaches.
Kelly said, “I am not saying that the shooter was motivated by Jimmy Kimmel, though, to be honest, who knows if he had watched that episode. I don’t know. What I am saying is this was irresponsible talk. Given his professional position, you don’t make jokes about assassinations of the president, especially when he has had multiple assassination attempts against him. You don’t make light of it. Imagine someone saying that about Michelle Obama. Imagine what the reaction would be. Just think about that for a second.”
She continued, “I can maybe understand, in the wake of an assassination attempt, a comedian like Jay Leno – someone who is universally beloved and not known as a partisan hack who actually really does hate the president who just got shot – making a joke that was in good faith. You could maybe find a way that is not in bad taste to help the nation heal. That has always been one of the great roles of our great comedians: to help us heal through humor.”
Megyn Kelly Drags Jimmy Kimmel’s Melania Trump ‘Widow’ Joke: ‘You’d Think He Would Have Learned’ | Videohttps://t.co/z5EIE47inh
— TheWrap (@TheWrap) April 27, 2026
She concluded saying, “This was not that. We were not healing from anything. It was in advance of a massive gathering where he knew the president would be attending, and Melania, too. He was pretending that he was at the event, that he was the comedian there, and sending the message out to whoever follows that show that it is so funny to think of Trump dead and Melania as a glowing widow. It is just sick.”
As of Tuesday morning, neither ABC nor Disney has issued a formal response regarding Kimmel’s status or Trump’s demands. Kimmel, who has been a frequent critic of the administration, has also not yet commented on the specific backlash regarding the “widow” joke.
