Jimmy Kimmel claims controversial joke was about Donald and Melania’s age gap relationship as he expresses sympathy in wake of shooting at White House Correspondents’ Dinner

Jimmy Kimmel joked about Donald Trump and Melania Trump’s calls for him to be fired before defending his joke about Melania looking like ‘an expectant widow’ ahead of the shooting attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. 

Kimmel cracked in an episode last week that the First Lady looked ‘like an expectant widow’ in comments that have aged poorly in the wake of the attempted shooting at the dinner both she and the President attended.

On Monday night’s show, he joked about the First Lady calling him a ‘coward’ whom ABC should fire, in what Kimmel called a ‘Twitter vomit storm.’ 

‘You know how sometimes you wake up in the morning and the first lady puts out a statement demanding you be fired from your job? We’ve all been there. Right?’

He then described what happened at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where 31-year-old shooter Cole Thomas Allen attempted to attack the event. 

Kimmel then repeated his joke, claiming it was about Donald and Melania’s ‘age difference.’

‘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,’ he said.

He added: ‘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.’

Kimmel then twisted Melania’s words to criticize her husband again.

‘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,’ he quipped. 

He then pointed out that both he and Donald Trump were legally protected by the First Amendment. 

‘By the way, I 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,’ he said to applause from his audience.

Kimmel then went out of his way to apologize to the Trumps and all those in attendance at the dinner. 

‘I am sorry that you and the president and everyone in that room on Saturday went through that. I really am. Just because no one got killed doesn’t mean it wasn’t traumatic. It’s scary and we should come together and be best,’ he said, referencing Melania’s slogan to end internet bullying. 

He then joked that Karoline Leavitt’s ‘shots fired’ remark before the dinner was just as predictive of what happened as anything he said. 

‘Well, then maybe someone should look into this psychic lady too,’ he said. 

He also played a clip from 2010 where Donald Trump told a correspondent from Kimmel’s show ‘I happen to love Jimmy.’ 

Kimmel then riffed on how various Trump administration figures – Stephen Miller, RFK Jr – reacted to the reports of the shooting. 

After praising the Hollywood agent who sat there and continued eating and went viral, Kimmel resumed mocking the Trump administration, specifically FBI Director Kash Patel. 

‘Speaking of Kash Patel, Kash Patel’s the head of the FBI but somehow he wound up outside afterwards…I don’t know, calling his Uber driver? Trying to get his mom to come pick him up. He seemed kind of lost.’

The one thing Kimmel could potentially agree with Trump on was the President’s call for the shooting to inspire construction of the White House ballroom. 

‘I have to admit something, I don’t believe for one second that the reason he decided to build this ballroom is for security. But this was a pretty good argument for building — I might be pro-ballroom now weirdly after this. That way if anything terrible ever happens, at least they can dance.’

Kimmel finished his monologue by ripping on Trump’s 60 Minutes appearance on Sunday, where he called Norah O’Donnell ‘a disgrace’ for repeating Allen’s manifesto, that made wild accusations. 

Taking offense to the comments made on air by O’Donnell, Trump said: ‘I’m not a rapist, I didn’t rape anybody.’ 

‘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.”‘

Kimmel did not address that mentalist and White House Correspondents’ Dinner host Oz Pearlman had pulled out of appearing on his show Monday, to be replaced by Pod Save America co-host Jon Lovett. 

However, when speaking to first guest Anthony Anderson, they both expressed disappointment that Pearlman didn’t appear.  

Pearlman apparently backed out of his appearance on Monday night’s show, CNN reported.

The Daily Mail has reached out to spokespersons for both Jimmy Kimmel Live and Pearlman for comment. 

The remark about the President’s wife was part of a routine on Thursday’s ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ where the host pretended to deliver a comedy routine at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. 

That event two nights later was cut short when a man armed with guns and knives tried to enter the Washington ballroom where the Trumps and much of the nation’s political leadership had gathered.

This is a developing story.