President Donald Trump demanded on Monday the immediate dismissal of presenter Jimmy Kimmel from Disney and ABC, describing a monologue by the comedian as a "despicable incitement to violence" and linking it directly to the shooting that occurred at the White House Correspondents' Dinner last Saturday.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump described a sketch aired on Thursday, April 24, on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in which the host pretended to be the comedian from the Correspondents' Dinner and commented on the First Lady: "Our First Lady Melania is here. Look at Melania, how beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like that of a waiting widow."
Trump also denounced that Kimmel showed a fake video in which it appeared that Melania and their son Barron Trump were sitting in the studio of the show listening to him, something that the president described as "truly shocking."
"The next day, a lunatic attempted to enter the White House Correspondents' Dinner hall, armed with a shotgun, a pistol, and numerous knives. He was there for a very obvious and sinister reason," Trump wrote, establishing a direct connection between the monologue and the attack.
The suspect in the shooting, Cole Tomas Allen, 31 years old and a resident of Torrance, California, fired between five and eight shots near the metal detectors at the Washington Hilton hotel. A Secret Service agent sustained minor injuries thanks to his bulletproof vest. Trump, Melania, Vice President JD Vance, and House Speaker Mike Johnson were evacuated unharmed.
Trump described Kimmel's comments as "well above what is tolerable" and concluded his post with a direct demand: "Jimmy Kimmel should be fired immediately by Disney and ABC".
Hours earlier, Melania Trump had posted a similarly forceful condemnation on X. "His monologue about my family is not comedy; his words are corrosive and deepen the political sickness in the United States," wrote the First Lady, who also called Kimmel a "coward" and demanded that the network take action: "Enough is enough. It's time for ABC to take a stand."
The White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt —who returned from her maternity leave to address the media— also pointed out Kimmel's joke as an example of normalized hostile rhetoric, asserting that the manifesto left by Allen before the attack was "indistinguishable" from the typical anti-Trump language found on social media and in the press.
Neither ABC nor Disney immediately responded to requests for comments regarding the potential dismissal of the host.
It is not the first time Kimmel has faced such pressures. In September 2025, ABC briefly suspended the show following the host's comments regarding the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, under pressure from the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr. The show was reinstated less than a week later, following a wave of public support and a letter signed by over 400 celebrities. In November 2025, Trump once again demanded Kimmel's firing, accusing him of "liberal bias," to which the host responded with irony during his monologue.
The new controversy arises at a delicate time for Disney: Josh D'Amaro took over as the company's CEO on March 18, 2026, replacing Bob Iger, and this controversy represents his first major test against the Trump administration regarding the media.
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