Both Melania and Donald Trump have called for ABC to fire Kimmel from his late-night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live”

White House comms chief calls Jimmy Kimmel ‘a s--- human being’ for ‘doubling down’ on Melania Trump joke

Both Melania and Donald Trump have called for ABC to fire Kimmel from his late-night talk show "Jimmy Kimmel Live"

By Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on Entertainment Tonight and Popsugar.

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April 28, 2026 3:19 p.m. ET

Jimmy Kimmel on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live'. Credit:

Randy Holmes/ABC via Getty

- Steven Cheung, White House director of communications, slammed Jimmy Kimmel for "doubling down" on his joke about the Trumps during his "alternative" White House Correspondents' Dinner monologue.

- "He should be shunned for the rest of his life," Cheung wrote from his X account.

- The bit "obviously was a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they're together," Kimmel said of the reaction to his "expectant widow" quip about Melania.

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung has now entered the chat already in progress regarding Jimmy Kimmel's recent jokes about Melania and Donald Trump.

After the late night TV host addressed Melania and Donald demanding he be fired for his scathing jokes made during the "alternative" White House Correspondents' Dinner he staged on Thursday's episode of *Jimmy Kimmel Live*, Cheung slammed Kimmel for "doubling down" on his remark that the first lady had "a glow like an expectant widow."

The backlash has been particularly fierce since Kimmel's comments came two days before the actual correspondents dinner, which was interrupted when an alleged gunman opened fire at the Washington Hilton, where the event was being held.

"Jimmy Kimmel is a s--- human being for: #1. Making a disgusting joke about assassinating the President #2. Doubling down on that joke instead of doing the decent thing by apologizing," Cheung wrote in an X post shared under his official White House employee account.

He added, "ABC needs to fire him immediately and he should be shunned for the rest of his life."

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Cheung's comment echoed those of Melania and Donald, who demanded that ABC fire the comedian from his hosting gig on Monday. Melania slammed the late-night host in a social media post, calling on ABC to "take a stand" over what she described as Kimmel's "hateful and violent rhetoric." Donald echoed his wife's call for Kimmel to be fired in a post on Truth Social.

But during Monday's episode of *Jimmy Kimmel Live, *the host shrugged off Melania's incensed rhetoric, sharing his gratitude that "no one was hurt" at the Correspondents' Dinner, "thank goodness," and offering an explanation for his "widow" joke.

Kimmel, hosting the "alternative" White House Correspondents' Dinner; Donald and Melania Trump at Windsor Castle in September.

Randy Holmes/Disney via Getty; Aaron Chown-WPA Pool/Getty

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Kimmel said the jab "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 [Trump] is 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."

Kimmel stated that he and Melania shared common ground, adding, "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."

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