After a joke by host Jimmy Kimmel prompted calls from the White House for ABC to fire the comedian, the Federal Communications Commission today ordered an early review of the network’s television station licenses, reports Reuters.
This is a serious crisis facing new Walt Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro.
Kimmel’s controversial evening show aired on ABC two days before the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, attended by US President Donald Trump, when a gunman stormed the hotel and was soon taken into custody.
Kimmel joked on the show with first lady Melania Trump that she has the glow of a woman who expects to become a widow.
“What — it was obviously a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they’re together,” Kimmel responded sarcastically.
“It was a very mild joke, about the fact that he’s almost 80 years old and she’s younger than me,” Kimmel said, explaining the joke he told.
The Trump family expects the television station to fire Kimmel for the remark, reports the American conservative television station “Fox News”.
Melania Trump posted a post yesterday on the X social platform saying that Kimmel’s “violent, hateful rhetoric is intended to divide our country” and that his comments about her family are not a joke.
“Enough is enough. It’s time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC management enable Kimmel’s appalling behavior at the expense of our community,” she added.
President Trump also took to his Twitter account to call for Kimmel’s firing, claiming his remarks were a “call to violence” and suggesting the joke heralded a security incident.
“This is way beyond the limits of what is acceptable. Jimmy Kimmel should be fired immediately by Disney and ABC,” Trump wrote.
The attacker at the press dinner, Cole Thomas Allen, was formally charged yesterday with an attempt to assassinate Trump after he stormed the event armed. He wounded a Secret Service agent, before being overpowered and arrested, while Trump was quickly evacuated.
Last September, ABC canceled Jimmy Kimmel’s popular late-night show indefinitely over his comments about the murder of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk. Parent company “Walt Disney” reversed this decision a few days later.
