Let’s give Jimmy Kimmel his due. He has every right to spew any garbage he likes under our free speech laws. He can insult and offend whomever he wishes.
There’s no such thing in America as a right to not be offended.
By the same token, we have every right to tell him exactly what we think of his attack on President Trump and the First Lady, when he said on a recent show, “Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”
Let’s put aside the unfortunate fact that two days later, Cole Tomas Allen was arrested before he had a chance to harm Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
On its own, telling a first lady she looks like someone expecting her husband to die is not just mean-spirited. It doesn’t carry a neutrino of humor. It might be titillating for someone who hates Trump so much they dream of his extinction.
But funny? Not close.
The first lady’s reaction went the expected route.
“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country… his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America,” Melania Trump posted on X.
She went on to call Kimmel a “coward” who “hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him” and called for “ABC to take a stand.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called Kimmel’s joke “completely deranged” while President Trump called the comedian’s joke a “despicable call to violence” on Truth Social.
True to form, instead of letting Kimmel stew in his anti-comedy, Trump is throwing the FCC at him and threatening to revoke Disney’s broadcast license, turning Kimmel into the victim.
All this is music to the ears of a smug comic like Kimmel. Getting such a nasty reaction from the hated Trumps, including calls for his firing, is a badge of honor in Kimmel’s elitist world. It means I must be doing something right! What courage!
Not so fast, Jimmy
A “joke” on the demise of a president who’s already braved two assassination attempts doesn’t win you the glory of becoming a free speech martyr with your Trump-hating comrades. It just makes you a lousy comedian.
You should apologize, above all, for not doing your job. We all love a good joke. The tasteless and mean-spirited “Mrs Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow” is no joke. It’s professional malpractice.
“Look at Jimmy, so unfunny.”
