Kimmel’s 2-Word Text to Late-Night Hosts After Melania Drama

When Melania Trump went on social media demanding that ABC fire Jimmy Kimmel, the late-night host’s first move wasn’t a press statement or a call to his lawyer. He opened a group chat with his fellow comedians and typed two words: “Oh boy.”

That detail came out Monday night during a star-studded episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where Kimmel was joined by Seth Meyers, John Oliver, and Jimmy Fallon for a reunion of the Strike Force Five crew — all gathering to celebrate Colbert’s final weeks on air before his May 21 finale. At one point, Colbert asked the group if they’d ever imagined doing jobs that the president of the United States would have “strong feelings about.”

That’s when Kimmel couldn’t help himself.

“You know what’s even weirder? Doing a job that his wife has strong feelings about,” he said, drawing instant laughter. “That’s where it crosses over.”

“Most of us have avoided that part,” Meyers deadpanned.

Oliver then let the group chat secret out. “It’s an amazing thing to get a text from Jimmy saying ‘Oh boy,’ and then a picture of Melania mad at him,” he said. “What a way to start the day.”

Fallon, never one to let a moment pass, admitted he had a slightly different reaction. “And then I sent a text to you guys, and I said, ‘Hey, don’t be mad at me, but I liked it.’ I think she’s got a point.”

How the ‘Expectant Widow’ Joke Became a White House Crisis

The joke that started everything aired on April 23, when Kimmel performed an “alternative” White House Correspondents’ Dinner segment on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Standing in for the real event — which the late-night community has largely boycotted — he looked into the camera and said: “Our first lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”

Two days later, a gunman opened fire at the hotel hosting the actual White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, D.C., in what authorities described as an attempt targeting the president and members of his administration. The timing turned Kimmel’s joke — a riff on the 23-year age gap between Donald, 79, and Melania, 56 — into something the White House was determined to treat as far more sinister.

Melania posted publicly, writing in part: “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?” She also called him a “coward” and said “people like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.”

The president went further. On Truth Social, Trump wrote: “When is ABC Fake News Network firing seriously unfunny Jimmy Kimmel, who incompetently presides over one of the Lowest Rated shows on Television. People are angry. It better be soon!!!” In a separate post, he called it “something far beyond the pale” and demanded Kimmel be “immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”

MAGA influencers piled on. Conservative talk shows spent weeks dissecting the joke. The FCC, notably, announced it was investigating Disney-owned broadcast networks over their DEI practices — a move that came just one day after Trump’s firing demand, and which Disney pushed back against, saying the agency’s actions “threaten to upend decades of settled law and practice and chill critical protected speech.”

Kimmel didn’t back down. He addressed the controversy on his April 27 monologue, calling it “obviously a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they’re together.” He added: “It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am. It was not by any stretch a call to assassination.” And then he turned it back on Melania directly: “I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do. And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.”

ABC stood by him. The drama, eventually, fizzled.

The “Saddest Part” of Getting Called Out by the White House

Back on Colbert’s couch Monday, Colbert pressed Kimmel on what it actually feels like to wake up and see that kind of attention rolling in from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

“The saddest part of it,” Kimmel said, “is that I realize in those moments that the only four people who care are sitting right here. It takes 12 hours for the rest of the people in my life to even figure out that anything’s going on.”

He paused for effect. “Two hours after that, a guy I used to work with sent me a text. He’s like, ‘Hey, do you know a real estate lawyer?’”

The room fell apart. It’s a very Kimmel observation — the absurdity that a presidential call for your firing barely registers outside a very small circle of people who are, at this point, almost used to it.

Back to Business at Disney’s Upfront

That same sense of humor was on full display the next day, when Kimmel appeared at Disney’s annual advertising upfront presentation on Tuesday — very much still employed, very much still cracking jokes.

“I didn’t think I’d ever see you guys again either,” he told the room of advertisers, acknowledging the elephant directly. He noted that his ratings are actually up this year, crediting “our partners in Washington” for the boost.

On the subject of ABC pulling shows from the air, he quipped: “Usually in order for ABC to pull you off the air, you have to throw a chair at your Mormon boyfriend” — a pointed reference to Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Taylor Frankie Paul, whose Bachelorette season was shelved amid her own controversy.

“Yes, the president has tried to get me twice over the last six months — that’s one way to look at it,” Kimmel said. “You could also say I’ve generated unparalleled engagement across a variety of platforms.”

He closed his roughly ten-minute monologue with a line that got the room: “Hiring me 24 years ago, just from a purely mathematical standpoint, was the worst personnel decision that Disney Corporation has ever made.”

Then, near the end: “That’s it for me — probably forever.”

It’s the kind of joke that only lands if you’re not actually worried. And right now, at least, Kimmel doesn’t seem to be.