Podcaster Joe Rogan on Friday ripped the “ridiculous” backlash against late-night host Jimmy Kimmel for a joke he made days before a gunman attempted to target President Trump and other officials at the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) dinner last weekend.
Kimmel held a mock roast on his show last week, during which he joked that first lady Melania Trump had the “glow” of “an expectant widow.” Rogan argued that “nobody gave a s—t” about the joke until after the shooting incident later that Saturday.
“No one cared on Saturday until Saturday night when the assassination attempt, and then all the sudden, everyone’s blaming Kimmel,” he said during a episode of the “Joe Rogan Experience.”
The first lady accused Kimmel on Monday of spouting “hateful and violent rhetoric” to “divide our country” and called on ABC to “take a stand” and pull him off the air. The president also renewed calls for the late-night host to be fired, describing the quip as “very shocking” and suggesting it was meant to incite violence.
“He was there for a very obvious and sinister reason,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, referencing the alleged gunman, 31-year-old Cole Allen, who is charged with attempting to assassinate the president.
“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 added.
Kimmel defended himself several times on the show this week, initially clarifying on Monday that the joke was a “very light” nod to the Trumps’ age difference. The president is 79 and the first lady is 56.
He circled back to the joke on Tuesday after playing a clip of the Trumps meeting with King Charles III and Queen Camilla at the White House, when the president apologized to his wife of 21 years that they would not be able to match his parents’ 63-year marriage.
“My god, he should be fired for that,” Kimmel reacted on Tuesday. “Only Donald Trump would demand I be fired for making a joke about his old age, and then a day later, go out and make a joke about his own old age.”
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) earlier this week ordered an early review of the broadcast licenses of several local television stations owned and operated by Disney, the parent company that owns ABC, where Kimmel’s show is hosted.
The FCC, under Chairman Brendan Carr, has faced criticism for its purported attempts to crack down on media content deemed critical of Trump through threats to revoke broadcast licenses and other regulatory pressure. Carr said the latest decision was not prompted by White House pressure.
Commissioner Anna M. Gomez, a Democrat, panned Tuesday’s decision as “the most egregious action this FCC has taken in violation of the First Amendment to date.”
“As part of its ongoing campaign of censorship and control, the White House called publicly for the silencing of a vocal critic, and this FCC has now answered that call,” Gomez said in a statement. “This is an unprecedented and politically motivated attempt to interfere with how broadcasters operate, and this unlawful overreach will fail.”
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