US President Donald Trump has urged ABC to fire the late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, saying: “It better be soon.”
Mr Trump made a further call for the presenter of Jimmy Kimmel Live! to be sacked in a post on Truth Social after previously calling for the US network to “immediately” fire him on Monday.
The comments come after the presenter joked last week that the US first lady, Melania Trump, looked like an “expectant widow” during a sketch roast of the White House correspondents’ dinner.
Days later a gunman attempted to storm the event.
Mr Trump’s new call for the presenter to be fired was made hours before Mr Trump bid farewell to the King and Queen following their historic visit to America.
He said: “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!!!”
On Monday, Mrs Trump called Kimmel a “coward” in a post on X and said: “His monologue about my family isn’t comedy – his words are corrosive and deepen the political sickness within America.”
Kimmel later described the sketch as a light roast and that his widow joke about the first lady was not “a call to assassination”.
In Monday’s monologue, Kimmel said he was sorry that the president and those in attendance at the event went through that traumatic and scary experience.
“I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject,” Kimmel said.
“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.”
Kimmel was previously taken off the air and suspended indefinitely following comments he made on the show after the murder of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, an ally of Mr Trump.
He returned five days later following criticism from the public, Hollywood and political figures who said it was an infringement of their freedom of speech and the freedom of the press.
ABC and Kimmel have been contacted for comment.
