Late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel continues to face immense pressure from the political world following a controversial joke made about President Donald Trump during his show that has sparked outrage from the White House and multiple calls to remove Kimmel from ABC.
On his show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, on Monday night, Kimmel did a mixture of humor and serious speech decrying the type of extreme political pressure that he is experiencing as an individual and how he believes it goes against his rights as a U.S. citizen under the First Amendment.
Kimmel’s Statement on Call for His Firing
In his opening monologue to the audience, Kimmel opened with sarcasm and made a joke about the unbelievable nature of the current situation in the U.S. — “You know, sometimes you wake up in the morning and the First Lady of the United States calls for you to be fired from your job, right? I think we all can understand what it feels like when that happens.”
That was in reference to comments made by Melania Trump and Trump’s political allies who chastised Kimmel for a joke he did last week where he said Melania had the “glow of an expectant widow.”
Kimmel made the case for defending the comedic statement as just a very mild jab, considering the age difference between Donald Trump and Melania Trump:
“That was a very light roast joke… he’s almost 80 years old, and she is younger than me.”
Intensification of the Criticism Against Kimmel by Trump Supporters and the White House
Since the Kimmel joke made public, the level of criticism regarding the joke has increased dramatically because of the gunman who opened fire at the White House Correspondents Dinner last weekend — an event that Trump supporters have since used to suggest that Kimmel’s comment was dangerous and inciting violence.
Kimmel rejected this suggestion as follows — “There was absolutely no way to interpret my comment as a call to commit an act of violence against President Trump, nor can they make this
argument with any integrity whatsoever. They are lying.” Kimmel also pointed out that he has been long known for being against gun violence in America, and as support for his assertions re-iterated/reminded the audience regarding the many times that he has spoken out publicly against gun violence.
