Jimmy Kimmel contemplated going easy on Melania and Donald Trump after a week of tension with the first couple, but ultimately fell back into his old routine.
The comedian brought up the president and the first lady while discussing Tuesday’s state dinner in Washington, D.C., which honored King Charles III and Queen Camilla, during his latest monologue for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
“So, King Charles is here to try to mend the fractured relationship between the United States and everyone really. Everyone in the world,” Kimmel said. “We are about as popular as scabies right now. Our special relationship with England is on the rocks.”
As Kimmel went on, he quipped that the U.S. and U.K.’s special relationship wasn’t the only one on display at the government event, adding, “Our first couple, Donald and Melania, who lately have seemed closer than ever — and I like to think I played a part in that.”
He then called on the studio audience to take a closer look at the Trumps’ hand activity when entering the state dinner, noting that “because the hands say so much.”
In the footage, a glove-clad Melania can be seen briefly holding Donald’s hand, before pulling it away. The president is then seen tapping on his wife’s hand, but she does not take his hand again.
As his audience erupted into laughter over the footage, Kimmel shared, “You know what? Considering the week I’ve had with the first couple, I’m just going to say that is a completely normal way to interact for two people who are very much in love.”
Though, Kimmel dropped the niceties pretty quickly, following his statement up with: “Maybe that’s why his hands are all bruised, from Melania swatting them away.”
It’s no secret that Kimmel and the Trumps mutually dislike one another. On Monday, the first lady took to X and called for ABC to fire the late-night host after his monologue spoofing the White House Correspondents’ Dinner saw her compared to an “expectant widow” days before the actual dinner was shut down over a shooting.
“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country,” Melania wrote on her social media account. “His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America. People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate. A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him. Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.”
Shortly after Melania released her statement, her husband echoed her sentiments in a post of his own on Truth Social, with the president writing that Kimmel should be “immediately fired” by ABC and that this was “something far beyond the pale.”
Kimmel has since defended his joke, however, explaining it was a “light roast” highlighting the Trumps’ age difference.
“It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am,” he defended on Monday. “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.”
Watch Kimmel’s full monologue above.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC.
