‘It Better Be Soon!’: Trump Renews Call for ABC To Fire Kimmel Over ‘Expectant Widow’ Joke

President Trump is renewing his pressure on ABC to fire its late-night host, Jimmy Kimmel, over a joke he made about First Lady Melania Trump.In a post on Truth Social on Thursday morning, Mr. Trump wrote, “When is ABC Fake News Network firing seriously unfunny Jimmy Kimmel, who incompetently presides over one of the Lowest Rated shows on Television? People are angry. It better be soon!!!”Mr. Kimmel has come under fire for his “alternative” to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, in which he noted the event was not going to have a comedian. During the skit, Mr. Kimmel said Ms. Trump had a “glow” like an “expectant widow.” The joke was largely glossed over until a gunman stormed through a security checkpoint at the press gala. Law enforcement has said he was targeting Mr. Trump and other Cabinet members. The fiercely anti-Trump comedian has defended his joke, insisting it was not making light of a hypothetical assassination but was about the age difference between the president and first lady. The joke did not mention assassination. But after the assassination attempt, many conservatives have said it was tasteless. In a rare public statement, Ms. Trump denounced Mr. Kimmel as a “coward” who spouts “hateful” rhetoric and urged ABC to “take a stand.” The president and other White House officials have also denounced Mr. Kimmel and demanded that ABC fire him. So far, ABC and its corporate parent, the Walt Disney Company, seem to be standing by Mr. Kimmel, unlike last fall when he was suspended after claiming that a “MAGA gang was desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.” By the time of his comment, the governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, had stated that the suspect in the shooting of Charlie Kirk held left-wing views.Beyond Mr. Trump’s words, ABC is facing increasing regulatory pressure. An evangelical broadcasting organization, the National Religious Broadcasters, filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission over Mr. Kimmel’s joke, arguing that it trivialized violence. The FCC also ordered eight of Disney’s local stations to submit their applications to renew their licenses early. Stations have to renew their licenses every eight years, a typically mundane process. However, the decision to order the stations to start the process early has been seen as punishment for the Kimmel situation. A source told NBC News that the process was “fast-tracked” after Mr. Kimmel’s joke.A Democrat-appointed FCC commissioner, Anna Gomez, criticized the move, calling it an “unprecedented and politically motivated attempt to interfere with how broadcasters operate.”The FCC says the order to start the renewal process was issued in response to a yearlong investigation into Disney’s DEI practices. Disney defended its stations, saying in a statement, “ABC and its stations have a long record of operating in full compliance with FCC rules and serving their local communities with trusted news, emergency information, and public‑interest programming.”Amid the pressure from Mr. Trump and the license renewal process, it appears that ABC is standing with Mr. Kimmel.A media reporter for CNN, Brian Stelter, said on Tuesday that ABC executives sent “signals to Kimmel and to his team that the company is with him, that the company is not wavering, that the company is not going to … cower in the face of Trump’s pressure.”While ABC appears to be standing by him, two station groups, Nexstar and Sinclair, have been absent from the conversation. Last year, they demanded that the comedian apologize for his “insensitive” comment and briefly preempted “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”However, so far, amid the latest controversy, they have declined to publicly get involved. And Mr. Kimmel has doubled down on his criticism of the president. During an event at the White House, Mr. Trump noted that his parents were married for 63 years, then told Ms. Trump, “That’s a record we won’t be able to match, darling.”“I’m sorry. It’s just not going to work out that way,” he said.On Tuesday, Mr. Kimmel quipped, “Did he just make a joke about his death? My god. He should be fired for that.”And on Wednesday, Mr. Kimmel took a jab at Mr. Trump for posting what appeared to be an AI-generated image of him with a gun and sunglasses with explosions in the background. The post was made shortly after 4 a.m.“The old man has lost his marbles. He can’t sleep. He’s cosplaying as fat John Wick. I think we need to call his kids to make sure he’s okay,” Mr. Kimmel said. ABC did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.

‘It Better Be Soon!’: Trump Renews Call for ABC To Fire Kimmel Over ‘Expectant Widow’ Joke

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