Gayle King defends Jimmy Kimmel amid Melania and Donald Trump's demands to have him fired
Gayle King defends Jimmy Kimmel amid Melania and Donald Trump's demands to have him fired
Leigh BlickleyTue, April 28, 2026 at 4:51 PM UTC
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Gayle King; Jimmy KimmelCredit: Craig Barritt/Getty; Amy Sussman/GettyKey Points -
Gayle King is defending Jimmy Kimmel after Melania and Donald Trump demanded he be fired.
The CBS Mornings host spoke about Kimmel's character on Tuesday.
Kimmel also discussed the situation on Jimmy Kimmel Live Monday evening.
Gayle King is defending Jimmy Kimmel amid controversy surrounding the late-night host's recent jokes about Melania and President Donald Trump.
The CBS Mornings host was joined by the network's Chief White House Correspondent Nancy Cordes on Tuesday to break down the situation between Kimmel and the Trumps after the FLOTUS and POTUS called for him to be fired by ABC on Monday.
King thanked Cordes for "put[ting] it in context" that the comedian's jabs at the first lady and president — which appeared during a segment on Thursday night's episode of his show Jimmy Kimmel Live — were said before an alleged gunman opened fire at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday evening.
"Jimmy Kimmel is not some crazy person who would wish the president to be killed," King insisted. "That's... he just would not do that."
Tensions began to bubble after Kimmel staged an "alternative" White House Correspondents' Dinner on Thursday, poking fun at members of the administration in a mock roast after the White House Correspondents' Association broke with tradition by not hiring a comedian to appear at its annual fundraising event.
Among the jokes was one about the first lady having "a glow like an expectant widow" — which, once again, was said before the alleged shooting at the actual Correspondents' Dinner held at the Washington Hilton on Saturday.
Donald and Melania TrumpCredit: Heather Diehl/Getty
Two days after the dinner, Melania called out "coward" Kimmel's joke and his "hateful and violent rhetoric." She insisted ABC "take a stand" against him, adding, "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."
The president echoed his wife's sentiments with his own post on Truth Social. "I appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel’s despicable call to violence, and normally would not be responsive to anything that he said but, this is something far beyond the pale," he wrote. "Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC."
Later that evening on his show, Kimmel brushed off Melania's comments during his monologue and insisted he was glad "no one was hurt" at the Correspondents' Dinner.
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Kimmel, 58, said his "widow" remark "obviously was a joke about [the first lady and president's] age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they're together," he added sardonically. "It was a very light roast joke about the fact that [Trump] is 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 I've been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence in particular."
The late-night host then noted where he shared common ground with Melania, stating, "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."
Kimmel continued, "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 and scary. We should come together and be best. We really should. 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."
Melania and Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 25, 2026Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty
Kimmel then called attention to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt joking that "there will be some shots fired" ahead of the Correspondents' Dinner. "You know who's going to be furious when she hears that?" Kimmel joked.
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George Clooney also defended Kimmel on Monday and explained that "we need to be able to have a free and fair press."
"Jimmy's a comedian, and I would argue that Karoline Leavitt didn't mean shots should be fired," Clooney said during the 51st Chaplin Award Gala, where he was honored for his contributions to cinema, per Variety. "She was making a joke. Fair enough. You look at that side and go, 'Well, jokes are jokes.' But the rhetoric is a little dangerous. And we've seen it a lot lately."
He added, "When one side is calling anyone they disagree with traitors to the country, which is a charge that's punishable by death, just because they don't agree with someone, I think the rhetoric is a little too heated."
Kimmel was in hot water with the administration last September, as well. ABC temporarily suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live after he made comments about the "MAGA gang" while discussing Charlie Kirk's assassination. The move came as FCC chairman Brendan Carr encouraged ABC and parent company Disney to take action. Within a week, Kimmel was back on the air.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
