Jimmy Kimmel isn't backing off after the president demanded he be fired and federal regulators suddenly took new interest in his network's licenses. On Tuesday's Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the host played a clip of President Trump, soon to turn 80, jokingly telling the first lady that they won't be able to match his parents' 63-year marriage, then contrasted it with Trump's own outrage over Kimmel's recent joke referencing Melania Trump, 56, as "an expectant widow." "Only Donald Trump would demand I be fired for making a joke about his old age and then, a day later, go out and make a joke about his own old age," Kimmel said, per the Wall Street Journal.
Melania Trump has urged ABC to "take a stand" against Kimmel, accusing him of "hateful and violent rhetoric." Trump called his joke a "despicable call to violence." Kimmel defended himself Monday, saying, "It wasn't by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination and they know that." On Tuesday, he kept up his criticism of the president, referring to him as "President Beefunwellington." "They just don't like people named Jim is what I've learned," he added, referencing new criminal charges against James Comey for posting a photo of seashells forming the numbers "86 47."
The renewed clash comes months after Kimmel's show was suspended when FCC Chair Brendan Carr took issue with a joke he made about Charlie Kirk. At the time, Carr said that ABC affiliates who continued airing Kimmel could lose their licenses. On Tuesday, Carr ordered an unusual early review of Disney's licenses for its eight ABC stations in a reported extension of an ongoing probe into the company's diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. A person familiar with the agency said the timing was coincidental, per the Journal. The outlet quotes a First Amendment lawyer as warning that using license reviews to punish unflattering jokes would be unconstitutional.
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