Megyn Kelly warned ABC to listen to Melania Trump and fire Jimmy Kimmel.
“ABC, you’re not going to be able to ignore this,” Kelly said on her show Monday. “You are not going to be able to ignore both the president and the first lady. She’s even more powerful than he is in this particular moment, on this particular issue, speaking out. We’ll see. Ball’s in your court. Do the right thing.”
Kelly’s comments after Kimmel was blasted by Mrs. Trump on Monday morning for his Thursday show, during which he joked in a mock version of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner that she had the glow of an “expectant widow.”
That was days before shots were fired at the actual Dinner on Saturday at the Washington Hilton—but Melania Trump blamed Kimmel in a post on X, writing, “His monologue about my family isn’t comedy—his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America.”
The first lady added, “People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate. A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him. Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand.”
Kelly told her viewers that ABC had best do what Melania says and fire the “sick” host. “I’m not saying that the shooter was motivated by Jimmy Kimmel. Though, to be honest, who knows if he’d watched that episode? I don’t,” she said. “I’m saying this is irresponsible talk, given his professional position. You don’t make jokes about assassinations of the president.”
The conservative host was heavily criticized for her comments in November, when she circulated the perspective of a “source,” who stated that convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was not an “actual pedophile” because he preyed on “barely legal” 15-year-olds, as speculation grew about Epstein’s ties to Trump.
Still, Kelly went on to argue that Kimmel and “the left” were trying to “desensitize” the public to the “political violence,” which she said is “truly pernicious.” She added, “It’s a force for evil in this country” that Kimmel “doubles and triples and quadruples down on every other week.”
Trump’s FCC threatened Kimmel last year, leading to his show’s suspension by ABC for six days following his comments about MAGA’s reaction to Charlie Kirk’s death. However, Kimmel returned to the air triumphant the following week.
Now that Mrs. Trump has spoken out about Kimmel’s show, Kelly suspects that her statement will make more headway in finally getting Jimmy Kimmel Live axed than Trump’s efforts did.
“Melania Trump actually responded, which she never does. As you know, Melania, she does not seek the spotlight,” Kelly said, making the argument that the first lady is therefore harder to ignore. “You can say this as, Jimmy Kimmel? As, like, the face of ABC? You can say ‘She’s got the glow of an expectant widow,’ about a husband who was almost killed at least once, and two other times—attempts were obviously in the making. And now a fourth. Very ill-timed.”
“Too bad for Jimmy,” Kelly concluded. “What are you going to do about it, ABC?”
