Donald Trump is escalating his feud with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel — and now he’s turning his fire directly on the network that employs him.
In a Thursday morning post on Truth Social, Trump lashed out at ABC, demanding the network pull Kimmel off the air following a controversial joke about Melania Trump.
“When is ABC Fake News Network firing seriously unfunny Jimmy Kimmel, who incompetently presides over one of the Lowest Rated shows on Television?” Trump wrote. “People are angry. It better be soon!!! President DJT.”
The outburst marks the latest escalation in a long-running clash between Trump and Kimmel, but this time it comes with added pressure.
Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chairman, Brendan Carr, has reportedly directed The Walt Disney Company — ABC’s parent company — to move up license renewal applications for its local stations, a move that raises eyebrows given the timing.
The controversy stems from a joke Kimmel made on April 23, in which he described Melania Trump as having “the glow of an expectant widow.” Trump and his allies have pointed to the remark as contributing to a charged political climate, even linking it to a subsequent alleged assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner days later.
Both Trump and the first lady have publicly called for Kimmel to be fired.
ABC has not indicated any plans to remove the late-night host, though the network has faced similar pressure before. Kimmel was briefly suspended last year following backlash tied to remarks about a separate high-profile case.
For now, the standoff underscores a broader tension between political figures and media personalities — with Trump once again using his platform to demand consequences for a critic who continues to target him on national television.
