Melania Trump has called for ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel over a joke he made ahead of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
In a segment on Thursday’s episode of “Jimmy Kimmel LIVE!,” the comedian did a sketch that was a mock White House Correspondents’ Dinner roast.
“Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,” he joked.
On Monday, Melania Trump took to social platform X to express her consternation with Kimmel’s skit.
“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 deepens the political sickness within America. People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate. A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him. Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community,” she wrote.
This is not the first time a member of the Trump family has attempted to have Kimmel permanently pulled from the network.
Less than a year ago, after a monologue following the fatal shooting of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, ABC suspended Kimmel’s show. Nexstar and Sinclair, owners of local broadcast stations, completely removed the show off the air. This was all done at the behest of the Trump administration.
The monologue also caught the ire of the Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr. Carr said that Kimmel had engaged in “the sickest conduct imaginable.”
The boycott lasted less than two weeks, as millions of customers cancelled their subscriptions to Disney products including Hulu, ESPN, and Disney+. It was also reported that there was a 436% increase in cancellations above baseline.
The FCC has not responded to requests from media outlets and Carr told an NBC News reporter that he had no comment on this most recent matter.
Although the Trump administration has long claimed that freedom of speech is important, yet has made a concerted effort to silence protesters, celebrities, lawyers and the press. The administration has even gone as far as weaponizing its power to have people detained by ICE or indicted for social media posts.
In March 2025, recent Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil was returning home from dinner with his wife, who was eight months pregnant, when four ICE agents arrested him and placed him into an unmarked vehicle. Khalil, a legal U.S. resident who helped lead pro-Palestinian protests on Columbia’s campus the previous spring, was held at a detention facility in Louisiana pending deportation proceedings. He was held until late June.
‘We are seeing the gravest assault on freedom of speech at least since the McCarthy era, and I think in many respects the nation’s history,’ says Jonathan Hafetz, a professor of law at Seton Hall Law School and Membership Officer of the IBA Human Rights Law Committee.
The First Amendment protects the right to free speech, beliefs and association. It is unconstitutional for the government to retaliate against individuals for criticizing policies.
