Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel clapped back at President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump after they publicly called for his firing over a controversial joke.
During his Monday night monologue, Kimmel mockingly referenced the Trumps' demand, saying, "Sometimes you wake up and the First Lady puts out a statement demanding you be fired — yeah, we've all been there."
Kimmel insisted his joke was a harmless "pretend roast" poking fun at the couple's age gap, not an incitement to violence. He called it a "very light roast joke" about Trump nearing 80 while Melania is significantly younger.
Though he acknowledged Melania had a "stressful experience over the weekend" following the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, Kimmel turned the tables. He agreed that violent rhetoric should be toned down but suggested Melania might first want to "have a conversation" with her husband about his own history of incendiary comments.
The Trumps, along with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, had demanded ABC fire Kimmel over the joke.