George Clooney defends Jimmy Kimmel after Melania Trump’s rare comment over ‘widow’ joke
George Clooney has backed up Jimmy Kimmel after his controversial Melania Trump 'widow' joke went viral.
For those who missed it, the 58-year-old chat show host made a gag that didn't exactly age well during Thursday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!
During a parody of the White House Correspondents' Dinner, Kimmel pretended to be the event's MC and delivered his own alternative comedy monologue.
Among the jokes about the prestigious dinner, he said that First Lady Melania Trump had the glow of an 'expectant widow'.
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To be specific, Kimmel said, "Our first lady, Melania, is here. So beautiful. Mrs Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow."
Then, when the real media dinner took place Saturday (25 April), Trump had to be ushered out of the room by the Secret Service when shots were fired by a gunman armed with 'multiple weapons'.
The alleged shooter, who has since been identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, reportedly ran through a security checkpoint in the lobby of the Washington Hilton Hotel, armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives.
A shotgun was fired towards a Secret Service agent before the attacker was tackled to the ground and arrested. The agent who was targeted was wearing a bulletproof vest and thankfully is expected to make a full recovery.
As you can imagine, the joke immediately resurfaced and prompted a strong wave of backlash, including from the US President and First Lady themselves, who brutally called for the late-night talk show host to be sacked.
What have Trump and Melania said about Jimmy Kimmel's 'widow' joke?
Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Wow, Jimmy Kimmel, who is in no way funny as attested to by his terrible Television Ratings, made a statement on his Show that is really shocking.
“A day later, a lunatic tried entering the ballroom of the White House Correspondents Dinner, loaded up with a shotgun, handgun, and many knives.
“He was there for a very obvious and sinister reason. I appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel’s despicable call to violence, and normally would not be responsive to anything that he said but, this is something far beyond the pale.
“Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”
Meanwhile, Melania wrote on X: "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 deepen the political sickness within America.
“People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate."
She continued: “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 behaviour at the expense of our community.”
What has George Clooney said about the joke?
Now, Clooney has weighed in to defend Kimmel, following his own feud with the US President earlier this year.
As per Variety, while speaking at the 51st Chaplin Award Gala on Monday (27 April), he said: "Jimmy’s a comedian, and I would argue that Karoline Leavitt didn’t mean shots should be fired. She was making a joke. Fair enough. You look at that side and go, ’Well, jokes are jokes.’ But the rhetoric is a little dangerous. And we’ve seen it a lot lately."
For context, the Hollywood actor, 64, is referring to a comment made ahead of the Correspondents' Dinner by Karoline Leavitt, who told Fox News: "He is ready to rumble, I will tell you. This speech tonight will be classic Donald J Trump. It'll be funny, it'll be entertaining. There will be some shots fired tonight in the room."
Again, this didn't age well.
Clooney said to the publication that this kind of hyperbolic rhetoric 'can be toned down'.
He added, “When one side is calling anyone they disagree with traitors to the country, which is a charge that’s punishable by death, just because they don’t agree with someone, I think the rhetoric is a little too heated."
Jimmy Kimmel speaks out after the backlash
Kimmel himself has also addressed the public response, confirming that his joke was not 'a call to assassination'.
He opened Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday by describing the joke as a light roast about the couple’s age difference and 'not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination'.
Kimmel said, "It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am.
"And they know that! I’ve been very vocal - for many years - speaking out against gun violence in particular," he added.
Addressing Melania's X statement, the host said: "But I understand that the First Lady had a stressful experience over the weekend - and probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house.
"And also, 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 because.
"Who, by the way, I also should point out - Donald Trump is allowed to say whatever he wants to say. As are you - as am I - as are all of us - because, under the First Amendment, we have as Americans a right to free speech.
"But, with that said, 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. We really should!
"But if you want us to believe that a joke I made three days before this dinner had any effect on anything that happened? Well then, maybe someone should look into this psychic lady, too."
Tyla previously contacted ABC and Kimmel for comment.
Topics: Jimmy Kimmel, Melania Trump, Donald Trump, Politics, US News, Celebrity
Madison Burgess