Last week, a heavily armed man attempted to enter a gala dinner, where U.S. president Donald and his wife, Melania, were present. This occurred just a few days after Jimmy Kimmel jokingly referred to Melania as an "expectant widow."
Shooting At The White House Correspondents’ Dinner
On Saturday night, President Donald Trump was evacuated from a gala dinner in Washington, D.C. Security agents barely stopped the heavily armed man from entering the ballroom, where the dinner was taking place. 31-years-old Cole Tomas Allen was able to rush through the security gate. When he reached the stairs leading down to the ballroom, the security agents opened fire. One of the agents was hit, but was protected by his bulletproof vest. Nobody was harmed.
Following the incident, the security guards rushed Trump and his wife Melania out of the room. The dinner ended immediately and was rescheduled for another date.
"You Have A Glow Like An Expectant Widow"
The attack happened just a few days after Jimmy Kimmel described Melania as an “expectant widow” in a sketch on his show Jimmy Kimmel Live!
"Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow."
While the joke seems strange in the light of the recent attack, Kimmel never intended it to be a reference to a possible assassination. He claims that he was referring to the 24-years age gap between the presidential couple. He adds that he did not intend "to call for an assassination". He continued:
"I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject, I think a great place to start to dial that back is having a conversation with your husband about it."
"His Monologue About My Family Isn’t Comedy"
However, Melania Trump did not find his joke funny. In a post on X, she wrote:
"His monologue about my family isn't comedy - his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America. (...) How many times will ABC's leadership enable Kimmel's atrocious behavior at the expense of our community."
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.
— First Lady Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) April 27, 2026
People like Kimmel shouldn't have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to...
The president announced that he thinks Kimmel should be fired by Disney and ABC… again.
Kimmel Vs The "Maga Gang"
This isn’t the first time that the U.S. government has taken issue with one of Kimmel’s jokes. In September 2025, he made references to the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, who was killed at a public event a few days earlier. On his show, Kimmel said:
"[...] the MAGA gang [is] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it."
His comments led to an indefinite suspension of his show. Many politicians and even some famous actors were enraged by his remarks. On the other hand, the general public and many public figures showed a lot of support for Kimmel and began boycotting Disney. Many believed that suspending him for jokes was an infringement with the freedom of speech. The protests and boycotts were successful. Jimmy Kimmel’s show resumed. However, it is unclear what consequences his comments might have this time.
