The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has demanded this Monday that the chains Disney and ABC fire "immediately" the comedian Jimmy Kimmel, after he referred to the first lady, Melania Trump, as "a widow in waiting" in a parody about the correspondents' dinner, held a few days before the shooting that occurred during said event.
"This is something that goes far beyond acceptable. Disney and ABC should immediately fire Jimmy Kimmel," Trump said on his social media, where he accused the presenter of making a "despicable call to violence" with his comments.
The president has also lashed out at the comedian, stating that "Jimmy Kimmel, who has no sense of humor, as his terrible ratings show, made a statement on his show that is truly shocking." He then described what happened during the correspondents' dinner and tried to link the presenter's joke to the armed attack. According to Trump, the author of the shooting "was there for a very obvious and sinister reason."
With these words, the head of the White House aligns himself with his wife, who hours earlier had already lashed out at Kimmel and had again demanded that ABC take firm action against the show's host.
In a message disseminated on social media, the first lady has denounced that "Kimmel's hateful and violent rhetoric aims to divide our country. His monologue about my family is not comedy: his words are corrosive and deepen the political sickness within the United States," insisting that the host "should not have the opportunity to enter homes every night to spread hate."
On the same line, Melania Trump has hardened her speech and has branded Kimmel a "coward", accusing him of "hiding behind ABC", the network that airs his show. "He knows the network will continue to cover for him to protect him. Enough is enough. It's time for ABC to take a stand," she stressed, also questioning: "How many more times will ABC management allow Kimmel's atrocious behavior at the expense of our community?".
Kimmel has thus returned to the center of the controversy following the aforementioned parody about the correspondents' dinner, in which he referred to Melania Trump as "a widow in waiting" and made jokes about her marital relationship with the president, just before the event was interrupted by a shooting that, according to authorities, was intended to attack Trump.
Last September, the popular host was already in the spotlight when ABC, owned by the conglomerate Disney, decided to indefinitely cancel his show. The network reversed course a few days later, following the controversy generated by accusations that the MAGA movement was trying to gain political advantage from the murder of the ultra-conservative activist Charlie Kirk.