Jimmy Kimmel calls out Donald Trump for similarly joking about his own death: 'You should be fired for that!'
Jimmy Kimmel calls out Donald Trump for similarly joking about his own death: 'You should be fired for that!'
Emlyn TravisWed, April 29, 2026 at 3:28 PM UTC
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Donald Trump; Jimmy KimmelCredit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty; Jesse Grant/Variety/GettyKey Points -
Jimmy Kimmel is calling out Donald Trump for joking about his death just one day after the president publicly called for the late-night host to be fired for a similar punchline.
Trump joked to his wife, Melania, that the length of their marriage would not be able to surpass his parents' 63-year-long record in a televised speech on Tuesday.
“Wait a minute, did he just make a joke about his death? My God. You should be fired for that!” Kimmel quipped.
Jimmy Kimmel is calling out Donald Trump for cracking a joke about his mortality just one day after the president publicly called for the late-night host to be fired for a similar punchline.
The 79-year-old president made headlines on Tuesday when he paused in the middle of a televised speech at the White House to jokingly inform his wife, Melania Trump, 56, that they likely wouldn’t beat his parents’ 63-year-long marriage record.
"And, uh, excuse me, if you don't mind, that's a record we won't be able to match, darling,” Trump said, drawing laughs from those onstage. “I’m sorry, it's just not going to work out that way. We'll do well, but we're not going to do that well.”
One person who wasn’t laughing? Kimmel, who addressed the president’s age-related joke in his opening monologue on Tuesday night. “Wait a minute, did he just make a joke about his death?” the host questioned. “My God. You should be fired for that!”
Jimmy Kimmel hosts 'Jimmy Kimmel Live'Credit: Disney/Randy Holmes
He continued, “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!”
Trump demanded that Disney and ABC fire Kimmel in the wake of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting because, days before the incident occurred, Kimmel hosted his own mock version of the event on Jimmy Kimmel Live, where he teased that the First Lady had “a glow like an expectant widow.”
Melania similarly denounced the quip in a rare X post in the aftermath of the incident, stating that “Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country” and requesting that ABC “take a stand.”
Kimmel addressed the Trumps’ remarks on Monday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, sharing his relief that “no one was hurt” at the event and explaining the joke to them.
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"It was a very light roast joke about the fact that [Trump] is almost 80 and she's younger than I am,” he said. “It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination, and they know that I've been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence in particular."
He added, “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 get got killed doesn't mean it wasn't traumatic and scary. We should come together and be best. We really should.”
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One day after the president called for Kimmel’s dismissal, the Federal Communications Commission, which is headed by Trump appointee Brendan Carr, ordered the Walt Disney Company to submit early renewals of its TV stations. The company must now file the renewals, which were previously scheduled to be renewed between 2028 and 2031, for all of its stations within the next 30 days.
Several celebrities have come forward to defend Kimmel following the backlash he's received over the joke, including Gayle King, who reacted to the situation on Monday’s episode of CBS Mornings. “Jimmy Kimmel is not some crazy person who would wish the president to be killed," she insisted. "That's... he just would not do that."
George Clooney also spoke out about the "heated" controversy while attending the 51st Chaplin Award Gala. “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,” he said.
Watch Kimmel react to Trump's punchline in the clip above.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
