MAGA’s biggest mouthpieces are melting down en masse over Jimmy Kimmel’s refusal to apologize for joking that Melania Trump had the glow of an “expectant widow” before a gunman stormed a dinner at which the president was present.
The ABC late-night host, 58, used his Monday night monologue to double down on the quip, made two days before Saturday’s incident at the White House Correspondents’ dinner.
He told the first lady, 56, that if she wanted to dial back “hateful and violent rhetoric,” a “great place to start” would be “a conversation with your husband,” Donald Trump, 79.
First out of the gate Tuesday was MAGA podcaster Benny Johnson, who fumed on X that the host’s act “does not belong on taxpayer-funded airwaves” and accused him of “joking about the President dying and Melania being happy about it.”
Conservative columnist Joe Concha was next: “Outside of those with chronic TDS, there isn’t a soul on the planet who believes this was the intent of Kimmel’s ‘joke,’” he posted on X.
Pro-Trump podcaster Eric Daugherty went further, writing: “WTF?! Jimmy Kimmel BLAMES TRUMP for the vile rhetoric amid another assassination attempt.”
Right-wing influencer Gunther Eagleman branded Kimmel “trash” and declared that “the smartest thing Disney/ABC should do right now, is FIRE JIMMY KIMMEL.”
Pro-MAGA account SaltyGoat told his followers Kimmel could “go straight to Hell” because “he knew exactly what he was doing.”
Activist Vince Langman accused the host of being a “coward” who “doubled down” and “took more shots at Trump and Melania.”
The over-the-top furor wasn’t limited to social media influencers.
Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post devoted Tuesday’s front page to the spat, splashing “KIM-WIT STRIKES AGAIN.”
The MAGA pile-on followed Trump’s own Truth Social meltdown, in which the president branded Kimmel’s joke a “despicable call to violence” that was “far beyond the pale” and demanded he be “immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”
Melania called the host a “coward” whose monologue “deepens the political sickness within America.”
Kimmel was yanked off air by ABC in September following MAGA backlash to his Charlie Kirk comments—only to return days later to a major ratings boost.
