Jimmy Kimmel doesn’t care what Donald and Melania Trump think about his joke! He’s not sorry about it at all!
As Perezcious readers know, Kimmel and Trump’s feud resurfaced on Monday after the President and First Lady called him out for a joke he made in a mock White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech several days before the actual event. He teased that Melania has a “glow like an expectant widow.” Yikes!
Nobody seemed to care about the joke at first, but after Saturday’s real WHCD ended in disaster with an assassination attempt, the Trumps were enraged by the diss they believe totally crossed a line. So, they both got on social media and urged ABC to fire Kimmel!
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Well, the comedian clapped back on Monday’s episode of his Jimmy Kimmel Live! show, and he wasn’t feeling too sorry about the jab. After catching folks up on the controversy, he insisted it was “obviously a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they’re together.” He continued:
“It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am. It was not by any stretch a call to assassination and they know that I’ve been very vocal for many years, speaking out against gun violence in particular.”
But he does have a heart, and he did express sorrow for one aspect of the weekend’s chaos:
“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 meant it wasn’t traumatic and scary. And we should come together and be best. We really should.”
But the late night star also argued:
“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 maybe you should look into this psychic lady, too.”
He cut to a now-viral interview clip of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt promising there would be “some shots fired in the room tonight” ahead of the dinner. Oof!!!
Elsewhere in the monologue, Jimmy acknowledged he does agree with Melania on one thing:
“I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something that 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.”
Amen!
Ch-ch-check out his full defense:
Now, if you thought this MAGA backlash was causing Kimmel any stress — such as it did back when he was pulled off the air — you’d be wrong! A source close to Kimmel told DailyMail.com:
“We don’t care.”
Apparently, Jimmy and his team had a “good laugh” about all the controversy, as the source noted, “these people are so thin-skinned.” They added:
“These people can dish it out and they can’t take it at all – they’re the real snowflakes.”
Blasting Trump’s hypocrisy, the insider went on:
“They can do whatever they want and say whatever they want, but when something is clearly a joke, they want it censored by the network. … Trump says the most unhinged s**t about everyone, but the minute a joke is at his expense, [Trump] and his family lose their s**t. Anyone who has worked in late night for a long time knows that everyone gets it.”
A second insider confirmed the backlash wasn’t a surprise to Kimmel or ABC’s parent company, Disney:
“‘Bring it on’ is the mentality that Jimmy is living by, as he finds it so absurd that the president and the first lady are worrying about jokes and a late night host over the country and potentially being killed this weekend.”
They’re not wrong. There are SO many more important matters to be dealt with!
And besides, no matter how much they b**ch about Kimmel, it’s likely not going to amount to any change:
“Jimmy has already dealt with all that Trump has thrown at him. ABC and Disney aren’t looking to fire him or suspend him again after Melania’s tirade.”
In fact, Jimmy returned from his September 2025 suspension “with the belief that ABC wasn’t going to screw with him anymore, and that seems to be the case now.” It’s only made him MORE bold now. Hah! Trump’s plan backfired!!
The 58-year-old has signed on for the show until May 2027, and any plans to extend the contract will be worked out closer to that date, the confidant explained:
“They both are going to stand by his contract and then from that point make a decision to see if they should continue. We’ll see where the relationship and the ratings are next year and see if another extension might take place, or they can all see if they want to do something else altogether.”
An end may be the best choice, though:
“It would be the easy way out for both of them to go their separate ways when his contract is up, and that is the most likely scenario, for Jimmy to ride off in the sunset with his tail not beneath his legs and where Disney could come off unscathed themselves not having to let him go.”
If that’s the case, we have a feeling Jimmy will continue to be as unhinged as possible — just like Stephen Colbert. There’s nothing stopping him!
Thoughts?! Do U side with Kimmel or the Trumps on this one?? Sound OFF (below)!
[Image via ABC/Amazon MGM Studios/YouTube & MEGA/WENN]
