Jimmy Kimmel joked about Donald Trump and Melania Trump's calls for him to be fired before reacting to the shooting attempt at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Kimmel cracked in an episode last week that the First Lady looked 'like an expectant widow' in comments that have aged poorly in the wake of the attempted shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner both she and Donald Trump attended.
Kimmel Responds to Backlash
On Monday night's show, he joked about the First Lady calling him a 'coward' whom ABC should fire, in what Kimmel called a 'Twitter vomit storm.' 'You know how sometimes you wake up in the morning and the first lady puts out a statement demanding you be fired from your job? We've all been there. Right?'
He then described what happened at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, where 31-year-old shooter Cole Thomas Allen attempted to attack the event. Kimmel then repeated his joke, claiming it was about Donald and Melania's 'age difference.' 'It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he's almost 80 and she's younger than I am. It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination. And they know that,' he said.
Kimmel's Apology and Critique
He added: 'I've been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence, in particular. But I understand that the first lady had a stressful experience over the weekend and probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house.' Kimmel then twisted Melania's words to criticize her husband again. 'I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do and I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it,' he quipped.
He then pointed out that both he and Donald Trump were legally protected by the First Amendment. 'By the way, I should point out Donald Trump is allowed to say what he wants to say, as you are you, as am I as are all of us because under the first amendment we have a right as Americans to free speech,' he said to applause from his audience.
Apology and Further Jabs
Kimmel then went out of his way to apologize to the Trumps and all those in attendance at the dinner. 'I am sorry that you and the president and everyone in that room on Saturday went through that. I really am. Just because no one got killed doesn't mean it wasn't traumatic. It's scary and we should come together and be best,' he said, referencing Melania's slogan to end internet bullying.
He then joked that Karoline Leavitt's 'shots fired' remark before the dinner was just as predictive of what happened as anything he said. 'Well, then maybe someone should look into this psychic lady too,' he said. He also played a clip from 2010 where Donald Trump told a correspondent from Kimmel's show 'I happen to love Jimmy.'
This is a developing story.
