Kimmel on 'Melania Widow' Controversy: "Trump and I Both Have Freedom of Expression"
by Hwang Yoonju
Published 28 Apr.2026 21:41(KST)
Broadcaster Jimmy Kimmel, who became embroiled in controversy after joking that Melania Trump, the wife of U.S. President Donald Trump, would soon become a widow before the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting incident, stated that his comments at the time fall under freedom of expression.
According to Bloomberg and other outlets on April 27 (local time), Kimmel said on his ABC talk show "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" that day, “Donald Trump can say whatever he wants. You, me, all of us are the same,” adding, “As Americans, we have the right to freedom of expression under the First Amendment.”
Kimmel said he was “sorry” for what the attendees at the dinner experienced, but insisted that his joke was unrelated to the incident.
On the April 23 broadcast, Kimmel parodied the upcoming White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which was scheduled for two days later, saying, “Mrs. Trump, you seem to be giving off the vibe that you’ll soon be a widow.” When a shooting occurred in the security area of the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., where the dinner was held on the 25th, President Trump and his wife criticized Kimmel’s remarks.
Kimmel also targeted White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt’s comments, saying, “If you believe my joke before the dinner had any influence on the incident, you should also examine the words of this woman with supposed superpowers.”
This referred to Leavitt’s joke during a live connection with Fox News just before the event, in which she said the president’s dinner speech would be excellent and that there would be “some shots fired in the room tonight.” The phrase “some shots fired,” in its literal sense, means “to fire shots.”
Kimmel has drawn attention multiple times for satirizing President Trump and his hardline supporters. In particular, in September last year, he was fiercely criticized by conservatives after stating that the MAGA (Make America Great Again) camp was trying to take political advantage following the assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk.
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