Donald Trump‘s war with ABC over a Jimmy Kimmel joke has stepped up a notch as the FCC ordered an early review of the network’s television license.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which regulates broadcasters, made the move on Tuesday after the president railed against the comedian online.
Kimmel has been criticized for claiming the First Lady looked like ‘an expectant widow’ days before shots were fired at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
The comedian has since claimed the joke was a reference to the 24-year age gap between Melania, 56, and Donald Trump, who will turn 80 in June.
Trump blasted the joke as ‘beyond the pale’ and called for Kimmel to be ‘immediately fired by Disney and ABC’, while MAGA loyalists described it as ‘sick and tasteless’.
On Tuesday, the FCC ordered early reviews of eight Disney-owned ABC stations, marking a sharp escalation of the administration’s fight with major media outlets.
The reviews could lead to the FCC, which is led by Trump loyalist Brendan Carr, to revoke the stations’ licenses and ultimately take them off the airwaves.
It’s the first crisis faced by Disney’s new CEO Josh D’Amaro, who must now decide how to respond to mounting pressure to fire Kimmel.
Donald Trump’s war with ABC over a Jimmy Kimmel joke has stepped up a notch as the FCC ordered an early review of the network’s television license. (Pictured: Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair Brendan Carr with the president in November 2024)
Kimmel in his skit from last Thursday’s show, in which he joked about the glitzy DC event
Donald Trump blasted Jimmy Kimmel’s joke as ‘beyond the pale’ and called for the comedian to be ‘immediately fired by Disney and ABC’, while the president’s fans described it as ‘sick’
A Disney spokesman could not be reached for comment about Kimmel, who has already survived a previous call for ABC to fire him.
Kimmel’s sketch where he called Melania an ‘expectant widow’ involved a parody of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner two days before the event.
‘Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,’ Kimmel said before turning his attention to the First Lady’s birthday.
‘You know, Melania’s birthday is on Sunday. She’s planning to celebrate at home the same way she always does, looking out a window and whispering, “What have I done?”‘
Melania responded by slamming ‘Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric’ which she claimed was ‘intended to divide our country’.
‘His monologue about my family isn’t comedy – his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America,’ the First Lady wrote on X Monday morning.
She called on ABC to ‘take a stand’ against Kimmel, while the president went further by saying he should be ‘immediately fired’.
‘I appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel’s despicable call to violence, and normally would not be responsive to anything that he said but, this is something far beyond the pale,’ he wrote on Truth Social.
‘Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.’
It’s the first crisis faced by Josh D’Amaro (pictured), who became Disney CEO in March, who must now decide how to respond to mounting pressure to fire Kimmel
The late-night host driving his Audi to the Jimmy Kimmel Live! set in Hollywood on Monday
MAGA loyalists echoed the outrage on social media, with some slamming the joke as ‘sick and tasteless’ while others decried Kimmel as ‘evil’.
On Monday evening, Kimmel doubled down on his joke, saying it was clearly pertaining to the ‘age difference’ between Trump and his wife, not an assassination.
He also condemned the shooting attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner while offering condolences to everyone impacted.
‘It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am,’ the comedian 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.
‘But I understand that the First Lady had a stressful experience over the weekend and probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house.’
Kimmel then twisted Melania’s words to criticize her husband again.
‘I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do and I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it,’ he quipped.
Kimmel then pointed out that both he and Donald Trump were legally protected by the First Amendment.
Allen is seen after he was tackled to the ground and handcuffed by authorities at the hotel
‘By the way, I should point out Donald Trump is allowed to say what he wants to say, as you are you, as am I, as are all of us, because under the First Amendment we have a right as Americans to free speech,’ he said to applause from his audience.
Trump has previously made shocking comments himself, including saying the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley should be executed for treason, and that Liz Cheney should be shot in the face or with a firing squad.
He also said ‘I’m glad he’s dead’ in response to the passing of former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert Mueller last month.
As Kimmel’s sketch continued, he went out of his way to apologize to the Trumps and all those in attendance at the dinner.
‘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 got killed doesn’t mean it wasn’t traumatic. It’s scary and we should come together and be best,’ he added, referencing Melania’s famous slogan for her campaign to end internet bullying.
Kimmel then joked that Karoline Leavitt’s ‘shots fired’ remark before the dinner was just as predictive of what happened as anything he said.
The ABC comedian played the clip where the White House press secretary said: ‘I will tell you this speech tonight will be classic Donald J Trump. It’ll be funny. It’ll be entertaining. There will be some shots fired tonight.’
‘Well, then maybe someone should look into this psychic lady, too,’ Kimmel said.
He also played a clip from 2010 where the President told a correspondent from Kimmel’s show ‘I happen to love Jimmy.’
The early reviews could lead to the FCC, which is led by Trump loyalist Brendan Carr (pictured), to revoke the stations’ licenses and ultimately take them off the airwaves
In September 2025, the head of the FCC pressured broadcasters to take Kimmel off the air. ABC briefly suspended Kimmel’s show that month over comments he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Past White House Correspondents’ Dinner controversies have often centered on comedians pushing the event’s traditional roast format too far for some attendees.
Late-night hosts Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers faced criticism for their stinging remarks. This year’s event was to feature mentalist Oz Pearlman, not a comedian.
In 2018, Trump administration officials protested comedian Michelle Wolf’s roast of press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and Trump himself has declined to attend most dinners held during his presidency.
In recent years, the dinner’s organizers have opted to choose entertainers other than comedians for the dinner, including the historian Ron Chernow in 2019.