When Jimmy Kimmel Offered an Apology for Making This Joke About Melania Trump

Jimmy Kimmel is well known for the craft of words he uses to tickle the funny bones of the audience. However, not all jokes go down well, and sometimes taking accountability for the said words becomes the need of the hour. That's what happened in Kimmel's case one time when he made a joke about the former first lady Melania Trump and ended up taking the words back with an apology. 

In a segment of Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2018, Kimmel reacted to then-President Trump's commendation of his wife, Melania, for her participation in the Easter Egg Roll that year. "Not a chance she did one thing to help set that up. ... She didn't dye eggs. The only thing she's been working on is an escape tunnel," the late-night show host quipped. However, the joke did not go down well with several onlookers and Kimmel faced backlash for his choice of words and the joke made live on national television. Kimmel proceeded to mimic Melania and her accent as he played her clip of reading the book, You! to children at the White House according to The Guardian. 

He proceeded to say, "Guillermo, you know what this means? You could be first lady of the United States," to Guillermo Diaz also known as his hype man. Though not many people were displeased in the studio, however, the late-night show host and comedian faced backlash online. Fox News host Sean Hannity tweeted, "Also @jimmykimmel attacking @MELANIATRUMP while reading a book to kids? ... Attacking a woman who is helping children? This is @Disney?" 

Following the tweet by Hannity, Kimmel tweeted his apology. According to USA Today, the tweet read, "I will take Sean Hannity at his word that he was genuinely offended by what I believed and still believe to be a harmless and silly aside referencing our First Lady's accent." Adding further he said, "Mrs. Trump almost certainly has enough to worry about without being used as a prop to increase TV ratings."

Even after Kimmel acknowledged the inappropriateness of his joke about Melania, he persisted in escalating his ongoing feud with her husband, Trump. In 2020, Kimmel retaliated against Trump's remarks regarding then-Vice President Mike Pence's charitable actions. Trump, known for his keen interest in television ratings, minimized the significance of Kimmel's late-night program during one of his campaign rallies.

Kimmel did not leave the opportunity and passed on a sarcastic comment saying, "It turns out Fiberace gave me a shout-out during one of his blue-collar comedy tours. And I have to say: Sometimes it feels like he doesn't like me that much." Their feud continued unabated, with Trump using Truth Social to criticize Kimmel's hosting performance at the 2024 Oscars.