Enough is enough.
First Lady Melania Trump generally stays out of politics for the most part, choosing instead to focus her efforts on causes like childhood literacy and support for children impacted by families with opioid addiction. But today, Melania chose to make a rare public statement after late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel is going viral for yet another distasteful joke at her expense.
Ahead of this past weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Kimmel gave his own fake monologue to showcase what he would say if he were the headliner. (The dinner generally features a comedian who will perform a light roast of the attendees, but this year the White House Correspondents’ Association chose to go with Oz the Mentalist as the evening’s entertainment).
To nobody’s surprise, Kimmel’s routine wasn’t all that funny. But one joke in particular drew scrutiny after the incident that unfolded on Saturday when a shooter was apprehended by Secret Service trying to rush the dinner.
“Our First Lady Melania is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”
Hilarious.
Well obviously the joke didn’t age well, after it was revealed that the attempted shooter at the dinner was targeting President Donald Trump and members of his administration. And in the wake of everything that’s transpired, the First Lady is calling on ABC to take action against Kimmel.
In a post to her official FLOTUS account, Melania called out the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host for his “hateful and violent rhetoric” while accusing his network of “running cover to protect him.”
“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country. His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America.
People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.
A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him.
Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.”
Of course the network has taken action against the “comedian” in the past: Last September, Kimmel the network temporarily halted his show following vile comments he made on the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Without evidence, Kimmel implied that the man who killed Kirk was “MAGA” and that the right was “trying to score political points from it.”
The suspension ultimately lasted a week, and when Kimmel returned he offered a tearful statement clarifying that he wasn’t trying to make light of Kirk’s murder.
The incident also landed Kimmel’s show in hot water with both Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group, the two largest owners of ABC stations across the country, which pulled his show from air before production was suspended. And FCC chair Brendan Carr also threatened to take action against the Disney-owned network:
“This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.
They have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest.”
We’ll have to wait and see whether any of the broadcasters or the network respond to Melania’s call for action on Kimmel’s latest comments. But you’ve gotta think he’s becoming more of a liability than an asset at this point: I mean, who’s really watching this stuff these days anyway?
