Overview
- Trump, in Monday posts on social media, urged Disney and ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel over a Melania joke he labeled a “despicable call to violence.”
- Melania Trump condemned the monologue as hateful rhetoric and the press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, questioned whether such remarks could legitimize violence.
- On his ABC show, Kimmel said the line was an age‑gap roast and “not, by any stretch, a call to murder,” and he expressed sympathy for those shaken by the weekend’s security scare.
- Days after the monologue, a suspect identified as Cole Tomas Allen tried to force entry at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner with guns and knives, and officials said he appeared to target the president without evidence linking the joke to the attack.
- The FCC directed Disney to begin early license renewals in a move widely seen as retaliatory, and Disney vowed a First Amendment fight as lawmakers from both parties warned against using broadcast licenses to punish speech.