First Lady Goes After 'Coward' Kimmel

Melania Trump went after Jimmy Kimmel on Monday and called out ABC to boot. In a social media post, the first lady referenced a skit Kimmel did last week in which he pretended he was hosting the White House correspondents' dinner and made a series of jokes about President Trump and Melania. In the skit recorded days before this weekend's shooting at the actual dinner, Kimmel said Melania glowed like an "expectant widow," reports TMZ. That joke in particular has drawn the scorn of the MAGA base since Saturday night's shooting, notes Variety.

"Kimmel's hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country," wrote the first lady, adding that the jokes deepen "the political sickness within America." While she didn't explicitly call for Kimmel's cancellation, she came close: "People like Kimmel shouldn't have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate," she wrote, per the Hollywood Reporter. She called Kimmel a "coward" who is protected by ABC. "Enough is enough," she wrote. "It is time for ABC to take a stand." Neither Kimmel nor the network has responded. CNN sees the controversy as an early test for Josh D'Amaro, the new CEO of ABC parent company Disney.