Kimmel Spins Melania-Widow Joke Was 'Obviously' About 'Age Difference'

Alex Christy
April 28th, 2026 9:49 AM

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ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel tried to defend himself on Monday after receiving “another Twitter vomit storm” over the weekend after his Friday joke about First Lady glowing like an expectant widow aged like unrefrigerated cheese after a California man tried to assassinate President Trump at Saturday’s White House Correspondents Dinner. Kimmel tried to say the joke was merely about Donald and Melania’s age differences, but that would be hard to square with Kimmel’s history of Melania jokes.

Kimmel began by recapping how, since the WHCD would not feature a comedian, he did his own roast routine, “And there was no big reaction to it until this morning when I greeted the day facing yet another Twitter vomit storm. And a call to fire me from our First Lady Melania Trump saying I should be fired because of a joke I made, again, five nights ago. It was a pretend roast. I said, ‘Our First Lady Melania's here, look at her, so beautiful, Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.’”

 

 

He added, “Which obviously was a joke about their age difference. And the look of joy we see on her face every time they're together. 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 of the definition a call to assassination. And they know that. I've been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence, in particular.”

The second sentence is Kimmel unwittingly telling on himself. A good amount of late night’s jokes about Melania—of which Kimmel is by the leader—are based around the idea that Donald and Melania do not actually love each other and that she actually finds him repulsive. Even if one grants that Kimmel wasn’t talking about violence or assassination, it is not outrageous to say he was alluding to Trump’s death, especially given all the jokes Kimmel likes to tell about Trump’s diet. Even in that spoof WHCD routine, Kimmel gave Trump the Burger King award, a reference to both his like of fast food and alleged monarchial tendencies. From being a “very light roast,” that routine also featured gay rape jokes about FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and Senator Lindsey Graham.

As it was, Kimmel continued:

But I understand that the first lady had a stressful experience over the weekend. And probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house. And also I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something 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. Because—By the way, I also should point out Donald Trump is allowed to say what he wants to say, as you are you, as am I, as are all of us because under the First Amendment we have a right as Americans to free speech, but with that said, I am sorry that you, and the president, and everyone in that room on Saturday went through that.

After defending himself, Kimmel attacked Trump for defending himself. During a mashup of clips from Trump’s recent 60 Minutes battle, Kimmel quipped, “General rule of thumb, you know an interview isn't going great when you have to say ‘I'm not a rapist’ and ‘I'm not a pedophile.’"

 

 

Following another clip of Trump battling Norah O'Donnell, where he called her a “disgrace,” Kimmel retorted, “I guess the honeymoon with the press didn't last. It was fun for 11 hours.”

Kimmel was supposed to have Oz Pearlman on his show on Monday after he was scheduled to perform at the WHCD, but for one reason or another, that ended up not happening, and he was replaced by Pod Save America’s Jon Lovett.

Contrary to what many lefties have been saying, Lovett defended the idea of the administration sharing a few drinks with the administration, which led Kimmel to clarify, “So, you think—which is different, I think, from what a lot of people think—you think it is actually more appropriate now to be in a room for an event that supports the First Amendment with somebody who doesn't believe in the First Amendment.”

Lovett insisted, “No, I wouldn't be caught dead at the dinner. But, yeah. But, it's nice to be around people in real life as opposed to just fighting on the internet.”

 

 

He then lamented the ditching of the comedian by recalling Kimmel’s routine that got him in trouble, “Because ultimately it is supposed to be a chance to poke fun at people in power. That's what you were doing. That's what you were doing. You were using your First Amendment right to poke fun at people in power. And that's what that whole weekend used to be about before they changed comedian to mentalist.”

On an average night, Kimmel tells between 20 and 30 jokes about conservatives. On Friday, his fake WHCD routine led him to tell 57 total jokes—the second most in any single show since NewsBusters started keeping track—and not a single one was about a Democrat because poking fun at the “people in power” really means “Republicans in power.”

Here is a transcript for the April 27 show:

ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live!

4/27/2026

11:37 PM ET
JIMMY KIMMEL: So, on Thursday, three days before the event, in order to keep that cherished tradition alive, I did my own version of the correspondents' dinner on my show. I put on a tuxedo. We pretended we had an audience of luminaries. We used old footage of the Trumps, of Pete Hegseth, JD Vance, Kid Rock, Vanilla Ice, all the members of his cabinet.

And we made it seem like they were all together in a room. We had a little roast. Again, this was Thursday. And there was no big reaction to it until this morning when I greeted the day facing yet another Twitter vomit storm. And a call to fire me from our First Lady Melania Trump saying I should be fired because of a joke I made, again, five nights ago. It was a pretend roast. I said, “Our First Lady Melania's here, look at her, so beautiful, Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”

Which obviously was a joke about their age difference. And the look of joy we see on her face every time they're together. 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 of the definition a call to assassination. And they know that. I've been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence, in particular.

But I understand that the first lady had a stressful experience over the weekend. And probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house. And also I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something 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. Because—By the way, I also should point out Donald Trump is allowed to say what he wants to say, as you are you, as am I, as are all of us because under the First Amendment we have a right as Americans to free speech, but with that said, I am sorry that you, and the president, and everyone in that room on Saturday went through that.

…

KIMMEL: General rule of thumb, you know an interview isn't going great when you have to say "I'm not a rapist" and "I'm not a pedophile."

DONALD TRUMP: You should be ashamed of yourself reading that because I'm not any of those things.

NORAH O’DONNELL: Mr. President, these are –

TRUMP: Excuse me. Excuse me. You shouldn't be reading that on 60 Minutes. You're a disgrace. But go ahead. Let's finish the interview.

O’DONNELL: The other thing that he wrote –

TRUMP: You're disgraceful.

KIMMEL: I guess the honeymoon with the press didn't last. It was fun for 11 hours.

…

12:29 AM ET

KIMMEL: So, you think—which is different, I think, from what a lot of people think—you think it is actually more appropriate now to be in a room for an event that supports the First Amendment with somebody who doesn't believe in the First Amendment.

JON LOVETT: No, I wouldn't be caught dead at the dinner.

KIMMEL: Oh. The parties you mean.

LOVETT: But, yeah. But, it's nice to be around people in real life as opposed to just fighting on the internet.

KIMMEL: Yeah.

LOVETT: Because ultimately it is supposed to be a chance to poke fun at people in power. That's what you were doing. That's what you were doing. You were using your First Amendment right to poke fun at people in power. And that's what that whole weekend used to be about before they changed comedian to mentalist.

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