Late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel is defiantly refusing to apologize after unleashing a crude joke about First Lady Melania Trump that many critics say crossed a moral line in an already volatile political climate.
According to The Post Millennial, Kimmel is under fire for remarking at a mock White House Correspondents Dinner that Melania had the glow of an expectant widow, a line delivered just two days before an assassination attempt on President Donald Trumps life. Rather than express regret for targeting the First Lady and seemingly trivializing political violence, Kimmel insisted that the real problem is President Trumps hateful and violent rhetoric, attempting to shift blame away from Hollywood and back onto the president.
Addressing the uproar in his Monday-night monologue, Kimmel mocked the public outrage and the calls for his firing, including those from Melania Trump herself, treating the controversy as little more than a social-media spectacle. He told his audience he woke up to a Twitter vomit storm, casting critics as hysterical rather than acknowledging the seriousness of invoking widowhood in reference to a sitting presidents wife.
Again, five nights ago, it was a pretend roast, Kimmel said. It was not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination. And they know that. His defense rested on the claim that the joke was harmless satire, even as many Americans see a clear connection between the entertainment industrys escalating rhetoric and the broader culture of hostility toward conservatives.
The backlash intensified after Kimmels Thursday segment, in which he not only delivered the expectant widow line but also took additional shots at both Melania Trump and the president. Days later, Cole Allen, a teacher and game developer from California, was arrested after attempting to attack the White House Correspondents Dinner venue, prompting critics to argue that Kimmel and others in the media are normalizing a climate in which violence against political figures on the right is increasingly tolerated.
First Lady Melania Trump condemned Kimmels remarks as hateful and violent rhetoric and urged ABC to act responsibly. His monologue about my family isnt comedy, his words are corrosive and deepen the political sickness within America, she said, adding that people like Kimmel shouldnt have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.
President Trump also weighed in, calling Kimmels comments shocking and demanding that ABC terminate his employment, a move many conservatives see as a necessary stand against media double standards. Kimmel, however, refused to back down, offering only a limited expression of sympathy for the fear caused by the weekends events while rejecting any link between his words and the attempted attack.
Just because no one got killed doesnt mean it wasnt traumatic and scary, Kimmel said. But if you want us to believe that a joke I made three days before this dinner had any effect on anything that happened, well then, maybe someone should look into this psychic lady too. He then pivoted to attacking President Trump, arguing that if the First Lady wants to address inflammatory rhetoric, she should begin with her husband.
I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject, Kimmel said. I think a great place to start would be to have a conversation with your husband about it. He went further by equating his own expectant widow joke with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitts use of the phrase shots fired, a comparison critics say trivializes a serious security threat and underscores how some in the entertainment and media class refuse to accept any responsibility for poisoning the public square.
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