Just when it seemed the outrage cycle around Jimmy Kimmel couldn’t get any more absurd, President Donald Trump added a new wrinkle to the madness. Kimmel pulled a clip that, if nothing else, suggests he and Trump have the same sense of humor.
On Tuesday night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the host played footage of Donald Trump speaking during a recent appearance tied to King Charles III’s visit to the United States. In the clip, Trump reflected on his parents’ long marriage before turning to Melania Trump with a surprising observation.
President Trump reflected on his mother's journey from Scotland to America at age 19, where she met the future president's father. President Trump noted his parents were married for 63 years before pausing to turn back to the First Lady.
“That’s a record we won’t be able to match, darling," he said. "I’m sorry. Just not going to work out that way.”
Kimmel immediately zeroed in on the implication. “Wait a minute. Did he just make a joke about his death?” Kimmel asked. “My god. You should be fired for that," he said as the Jimmy Kimmel Live! studio audience roared in approval.
It was a punchline that gave the late-night host another chance to fire back at calls for Disney to take away his job over a joke widely interpreted by critics as inappropriate in the wake of violence at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Last week, Kimmel referred to Melania Trump as an "expectant widow," a jab about the 23-year age gap between her and Donald Trump.
“Only Donald Trump would demand I be fired for making a joke about his old age,” Kimmel continued, “and then a day later go out and make a joke about his own old age.”
Kimmel has repeatedly maintained that the joke was a "light roast" centered on Trump’s age and the couple’s age gap, not a suggestion of violence, as critics like Karoline Leavitt claimed. By highlighting Trump making a similar, almost self-deprecatory joke, Kimmel pointed out how far the original criticism had drifted from the joke’s actual intent.
And if that weren’t enough, yesterday's news apparently doubled down on the administration's defense of President Trump. Kimmel expressed shock as he reported former FBI director James Comey was indicted for an alleged threat against the president stemming from a social media photo he shared with the message "86 47."
Kimmel called out the charges as politically motivated, no matter what President Trump's "pets" at the Department of Justice say. The late-night comedian joked that the administration may just have a problem with anyone named "Jim" after both Kimmel and Comey ended up on their bad side.
Of course, Kimmel doesn't expect any apology or reflection to come from his critics after exposing the hypocrisy he found in President Trump's joke. But it does suggest that the late-night host isn't sweating this latest controversy too much.
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