Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel used his opening monologue of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on Monday night to issue an non-apology of his "roast" of first lady Melania Trump, saying his joke about her being "an expectant widow" was misconstrued.
"It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he's almost 80 and she's younger than I am," Kimmel said. "It was not – by any stretch of the definition – a call to assassination."
Kimmel acknowledged being under President Donald Trump scrutiny, this time from joking about the first lady becoming a "widow" just days before a would-be assassin was stopped by U.S. Secret Service outside the doors of the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday night.
"You know how sometimes you wake up in the morning and the first lady puts out a statement demanding you be fired from your job?" Kimmel's monologue began. "We’ve all been there, right?”
Kimmel then continued to criticize the first lady, doubling down on political rhetoric after Trump warnings.
“Obviously, it was a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they’re together,” he said, adding "they know that" was not a joke about "assassination" but Trump dying of old age.
Kimmel also added he understands the "stress" of being Trump's first lady.
“But I understand that the first lady had a stressful experience over the weekend, and probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house,” he continued. “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.
"Donald Trump is allowed to say whatever he wants to say, as are you and as am I. Because under the First Amendment, we have, as Americans, a right to free speech.”
Kimmel did apologize to the media that was impacted by the assassination attempt, though, saying he was “sorry” for everyone at the dinner.
“Just because no one got killed doesn’t mean it wasn’t traumatic and scary, and we should come together," he said. "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.”
Kimmel then blamed White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in saying Trump will be roasting his media critics: "There will be shots fired."
Leavitt was referring to the nature of the WCHA Dinner, which is a "roast" of critics in a fun-loving tone.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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