Trump, Melania Push Disney To Fire Anchor Jimmy Kimmel Over 'Widow' Joke

• Disney shares rose marginally in Tuesday’s premarket session.
• During an episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” last week, the host said, “Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”
• “Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC,” Trump said, along with a similar message from Melania.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump have urged Walt Disney to remove talk show host Jimmy Kimmel over a joke he made last week, in the latest tussle between the Trumps and the talk show host.

During a segment aired on April 23, the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” host made a remark about the first lady, saying, “Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.” Kimmel was recreating a scene from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which happened later on Saturday and was interrupted by a security incident involving a shooting near the entrance.

“I appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel’s despicable call to violence, and normally would not be responsive to anything that he said but, this is something far beyond the pale,” Trump said Monday on Truth Social. “Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”
 

On Monday, Melinia said on X, “Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country.  His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America.”

“It is time for ABC to take a stand,” she wrote. Disney has yet to issue a statement on the incident.

In September, Disney briefly pulled Kimmel’s show after he mocked Trump’s reaction to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, drawing backlash from conservative media and FCC Chair Brendan Carr. He returned to ABC after four days amid pushback from certain viewers, celebrities, and fellow late-night hosts.

DIS shares were marginally up in premarket trading on Tuesday. They have 10% year to date as of their last close. On Stockwits, the retail sentiment for DIS stock was ‘bearish’ as of the last reading.

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