CBS’s Gayle King Goes to Bat for Jimmy Kimmel Amid Melania Trump’s Push to Get Him Fired

CBS News host Gayle King defended late-night host Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday after President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump demanded that he be fired for making a joke about the first lady becoming a “widow.”

Reporting on the controversy for CBS Mornings, CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Nancy Cordes noted that Kimmel made the joke days before the assassination attempt against Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday, and not during or after the incident as some have claimed.

“We asked Disney, the parent company of ABC, for comment on all of this, and we haven’t heard back yet,” she added.

King then responded, “Nancy, I’m glad you put it in context that that joke was made before the Correspondents’ Dinner. Jimmy Kimmel is not some crazy person who would wish the president to be killed. That’s– he just would not do that.”

Kimmel made the joke during a parody White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner speech during his show on Thursday.

“Our First Lady Melania is here. Look at her, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,” said Kimmel during the skit.

Days later, after an armed gunman opened fire at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner with Trump and the first lady in attendance, Kimmel’s joke received heavy backlash.

“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country. His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America,” the first lady wrote in a statement. “People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.”

She continued, “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.”

President Trump issued his own statement demanding that ABC fire Kimmel “immediately,” calling the late-night host’s joke “beyond the pale.”

Watch above via CBS News.

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