George Clooney Defends Kimmel After Trump Again Calls for Late-Night Host to Be Fired

(SeaPRwire) –   George Clooney has publicly come to the defense of Jimmy Kimmel, supporting the late-night host following President Donald Trump’s renewed demands for his dismissal over a joke involving the word “widow.”

Speaking at the 51st Chaplin Awards Gala in New York on Monday night, Clooney stated, “Jimmy’s a comedian.”

The actor illustrated his argument by pointing to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who, before a gunman disrupted the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, humorously previewed Trump’s speech by claiming he was prepared to “rumble” and that “there will be some shots fired.”

 “I would argue that Karoline Leavitt didn’t mean shots should be fired, right? She was making a joke. Fair enough,” Clooney said. “I look at that side and go, ‘Well, jokes are jokes.’ But the rhetoric, I think, is a little dangerous. And we’ve seen it a lot lately.”

The call for Kimmel’s firing from Trump and First Lady Melania stemmed from a pre-recorded sketch about the White House Correspondents’ Dinner that aired days before the event. 

In the Jimmy Kimmel Live! segment, the host, acting as the event’s emcee, remarked: “Our First Lady Melania is here. So beautiful, Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.” 

After the shooting incident, Melania Trump returned to the comedy bit, condemning Kimmel for what she labeled “hateful and violent rhetoric” designed “to divide our country.”

“Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand,” she asserted. “How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.”

President Trump supported his wife’s comments, stating that “Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”

Kimmel responded to the criticism during the Monday taping of his program. 

“You know how sometimes you wake up in the morning and the First Lady puts out a statement demanding you be fired from your job,” the comedian quipped in his opening monologue. “We’ve all been there, right?”

He explained that the joke was “a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s [President Trump] almost 80 and she’s [Melania] younger than I am.”

“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,” Kimmel added. “I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.”

This episode marks the most recent conflict in a years-long feud between Kimmel and the President.

In September 2025, Trump applauded the temporary suspension of Kimmel’s show, which occurred after the network disciplined the comedian for a comment he made following the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Kimmel had ridiculed Trump’s answer to a reporter who asked how he was coping.

When Trump’s response centered on White House ballroom construction instead of the commentator’s death, Kimmel joked: “This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend… This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.” He further stated that the “MAGA gang” was attempting to “score political points” after Kirk’s assassination.

After the suspension was announced, Trump said: “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.”

However, the suspension was brief, ending after just a few days amidst significant backlash and demands for Kimmel’s reinstatement.

When Kimmel returned, Trump criticized the network.

“I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back. The White House was told by ABC that his Show was canceled,” he said. “Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny, and who puts the network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat garbage?”