WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Monday that Jimmy Kimmel should immediately be fired by ABC and parent company Walt Disney, joining his wife Melania Trump in calling out the late-night talk show host for a monologue he delivered prior to a shooting near a gathering of journalists and politicians over the weekend.

Kimmel said on Thursday (April 23), in a parody segment on the White House correspondents’ dinner, that Melania Trump “had a glow like an expectant widow”.

Trump and the first lady were rushed out of the dinner on Saturday after the shooting at the Washington Hilton. Trump has repeatedly urged broadcasters to remove comedy or news programmes he dislikes or that have been critical of him and pressed regulators to take action to revoke licences of broadcasters he says are unfair to him.

Broadcasters have broad First Amendment rights to make jokes - even ones that are distasteful, experts note.

Earlier on Monday, Melania Trump called Kimmel’s remarks “corrosive” and a symptom of what she described as a political sickness in the United States.

The issue poses an early test for Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro, who took the reins last month.

“Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABCs leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community,” Melania Trump said in a post on X.

“People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.”

She added: “Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country. His monologue about my family isn’t comedy - his words are corrosive and deepen the political sickness within America.”

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2026