White House Pressures ABC to Fire Jimmy Kimmel Over Comment About First Lady
· Telemundo McAllen (KTLM)
The White House escalated pressure on ABC Tuesday to fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over a comment he made about First Lady Melania Trump last week, with a senior advisor stating the comedian 'should be sidelined for the rest of his life.' In a post on X, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung used strong language to criticize Kimmel for making a 'disgusting joke' and 'doubling down on it instead of doing the decent thing and apologizing.' 'ABC must fire him immediately,' Cheung said, echoing a demand made by President Donald Trump. The president and first lady have strongly condemned Kimmel for referring to her as a 'widow-in-waiting' during last Thursday's episode. Two days later, a gunman opened fire outside the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington. The Trumps and senior administration officials were evacuated from the Washington Hilton ballroom. The suspect faces three charges, including attempted assassination of the U.S. president. Kimmel addressed the wave of criticism at the start of his Monday show, framing his 'widow' comment as a joke about the 23-year age gap between the Trumps. 'It was a very light roast-style joke about the fact that he’s nearly 80 and she’s younger than me. By no means, under any definition, was it a call for murder,' Kimmel said, adding that he believes the country should reject 'hateful and violent rhetoric.' Kimmel's latest monologue had surpassed 2.2 million views on the 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' YouTube channel as of Tuesday morning. ABC and its parent company, The Walt Disney Co., have remained publicly silent regarding the war of words between the White House and Kimmel. The network and media giant did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The criticism of Kimmel comes seven months after ABC briefly suspended his talk show amid a media storm over his comments about the political motivations of the man accused of murdering conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah. During that controversy, Nexstar and Sinclair — two major owners of local TV stations — pulled Kimmel's show from their programming for nine days. (Together, Nexstar and Sinclair own 70 ABC affiliates across the U.S.) Nexstar and Sinclair did not immediately respond to NBC News' inquiries about whether they plan to interrupt Kimmel's show again. Kimmel's remarks about the suspect in Kirk's murder also drew scrutiny from Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and the top federal regulator of the broadcasting sector. Carr accused Kimmel of exhibiting 'the most sickening behavior imaginable.' On Tuesday, the FCC is expected to issue an order requiring Disney-owned and directly operated TV stations to submit their broadcast license renewal applications ahead of schedule, according to a source familiar with the matter. The source called the move 'unprecedented' and noted it was tied to a year-long investigation into Disney's diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, though the uproar over Kimmel's comments accelerated the process.