The late-night host has been fielding Donald Trump’s demands for ABC to fire him after recent jokes made ahead of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

Jimmy Kimmel shares video of wife waking him with Trump’s new firing demand: ‘I haven’t even been fired once’

The late-night host has been fielding Donald Trump's demands for ABC to fire him after recent jokes made ahead of the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

By Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on Entertainment Tonight and Popsugar.

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May 1, 2026 12:12 p.m. ET

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Jimmy Kimmel; Donald Trump. Credit:

- Jimmy Kimmel began his Thursday night monologue with a video filmed by his wife and *Jimmy Kimmel Live* executive producer Molly McNearney waking him up to tell him that Trump posted about him again.

- "I haven't even been fired once," Kimmel reasonably pointed out. "How can I be fired again?"

- The president and Kimmel have long feuded, but the latest back-and-forth began after Kimmel made a joke about Melania Trump looking like an "expectant widow."

Jimmy Kimmel can't even get a good night's rest with Donald Trump's continued demands for his firing.

After the president took to Truth Social on Thursday to decry the late-night host once again, asking when ABC would fire him, Kimmel responded by opening his Thursday night monologue with a video filmed by his wife and *Jimmy Kimmel Live* executive producer Molly McNearney waking him up to tell him that Trump posted about him again.

"This morning, I woke up to my wife shooting video with her phone," Kimmel told viewers. "She was shooting me to let me know the president gave me another shout-out today."

He then played the video of McNearney informing her clearly half-awake husband that "Donald Trump wants you fired again."

"I haven't even been fired once," Kimmel reasonably pointed out, since ABC only temporarily suspended his show* *for a week following a joke the host made about the "MAGA gang" response to the assassination of Charlie Kirk. "How can I be fired again?"

McNearney laughed, adding, "He's calling for you to be fired cuz you're unfunny and you're low-rated." To which Kimmel replied, "Well, those are good reasons."

Jimmy Kimmel performing monologue on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live'.

Trump's latest post on Truth Social, which Kimmel read on-air to his audience, asked when ABC would fire the "seriously unfunny Jimmy Kimmel, who incompetently presides over one of the Lowest Rated shows on Television?"

"People are angry. It better be soon!!!" the president wrote.

Kimmel pointed out Trump's low ratings in response, sharing a headline about the president's approval rating slipping to a new low. "If incompetently presiding over not just one of but the lowest rating in history is the reason I should be fired," Kimmel said, "then we should both be out of a job. You're not doing too well either!"

"Isn't there a war dragging on?" Kimmel posed. "Imagine if FDR had taken to the airwaves during the Battle of the Bulge to complain about a *Little Orphan Annie* comic strip that he didn't like. Trump has three wars going on right now — Iranians, Ukrainians, and comedians."

Kimmel noted that three other Republican lawmakers he frequently calls out — Senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Representative James Comer — saying they have "spoken out to support our First Amendment rights." The comedian said, "Every one of these guys I've made fun of repeatedly and viciously on this show. And you know what not one of them has done? Pressured ABC to fire me for it."

Candace Owens defends Jimmy Kimmel's widow joke amid their ongoing feuds with Donald Trump

Jimmy Kimmel says Donald and Melania Trump are 'closer than ever' thanks to his 'expectant widow' joke

Kimmel closed the segment by suggesting he and Trump reach a cease-fire. "We don't have to meet face to face. I know you're busy. Send a delegation," Kimmel proposed. "Send J.D. Vance and Jared [Kushner] and your friend the real estate broker. We'll sit down... We can meet in a neutral location like Pakistan, or I don't know, Van Nuys."

"This could be good for both of us," he added. "I get to keep my job, you get to end your 11th war. What do you say?"

The president and Kimmel have long feuded, but the latest back-and-forth began after Kimmel made a joke about Melania Trump looking like an "expectant widow."

Melania and Donald both responded to the joke by demanding that ABC fire the comedian from his hosting gig on Monday. Melania slammed the late-night host in a social media post, calling on ABC to "take a stand" over what she described as Kimmel's "hateful and violent rhetoric." Donald echoed his wife's call for Kimmel to be fired in a post on Truth Social.

Some critics thought the joke went a little too far— largely because two days later, the actual White House Correspondents' Dinner was interrupted when an alleged gunman opened fire at the Washington Hilton, where the event was being held. Suspect Cole Allen allegedly rushed through a security checkpoint with multiple weapons and fired several gunshots. On Monday, Allen was charged with attempting to assassinate the president and two federal gun charges, PEOPLE reported.

Donald and Melania Trump pose during a farewell ceremony at the White House for King Charles III and Queen Camilla on April 30, 2026.

Samir Hussein/Getty

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But Kimmel has shrugged off the president and first lady's extreme demands for his firing. During Monday's episode of *Jimmy Kimmel Live, *he expressed gratitude that "no one was hurt" at the Correspondents' Dinner before offering an explanation for his controversial remark. He's even argued that ever since he quipped about Melania being an "expectant widow," the president and first lady have been more connected.

"Our first couple, Donald and Melania… have seemed closer than ever," Kimmel remarked during Wednesday's show, "and I like to think I played a part in that."

Watch Kimmel once again joke about Trump's demands for his firing above.

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