Late-night TV’s resident scold Jimmy Kimmel tried to play “gotcha” this week—but ended up looking like the punchline himself.
The ABC funnyman, who’s been lobbing cheap shots at Donald Trump for years, pounced Tuesday night after the president cracked a self-deprecating joke about his own mortality. Yes, Trump made a joke about his age—and somehow Kimmel thinks that proves he’s innocent.
Let’s rewind. Just days earlier, Kimmel had stirred outrage with a swipe at Melania Trump during a smug little roast routine. “Our First Lady Melania is here. Look at her, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,” he quipped—because nothing says “comedy” like casually implying the president’s imminent demise.
That line might’ve slipped by unnoticed if not for a tense weekend in Washington, where a gunman was stopped near security at a White House Correspondents’ Dinner–adjacent event. Suddenly, joking about death didn’t seem so hilarious.
By Monday, Melania fired back, slamming Kimmel’s jab as “violent rhetoric” and suggesting he shouldn’t be anywhere near a national platform. Trump followed up with a call for ABC to show him the door—“immediately.”
Cue Tuesday night, where Kimmel—clearly still fuming—thought he’d found his moment. He aired a clip of Trump hosting King Charles III in Washington. During a warm recollection of his parents’ 63-year marriage, Trump turned to his wife and delivered a line that sent the media into hysterics:
“And excuse me, if you don’t mind, that’s a record we won’t be able to match, darling… I’m sorry. Just not gonna work out that way,” Trump said.
“Wait a minute – did he just make a joke about his death?” Kimmel exclaimed, milking applause from his studio audience. “My God. He should be fired for that.”
