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Hours after the president and first lady called for Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s ouster<\/a>, the late-night host defended the joke that sparked their ire in the wake of an assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner.<\/p>\n Days before an armed man charged a security checkpoint at Saturday\u2019s dinner, Kimmel aired a skit on \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d mocking the annual dinner and addressing the first lady. \u201cYou have a glow like an expectant widow,\u201d he said on Thursday\u2019s show.<\/p>\n The jibe \u201cobviously was a joke about their age difference,\u201d Kimmel said on his show Monday night, before adding sarcastically, \u201cand the look of joy we see on her face every time they\u2019re together.\u201d<\/p>\n During his monologue Monday, Kimmel noted that the joke from the \u201cpretend roast\u201d came under intense scrutiny only after the shooting. \u201cIt was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination, and they know that,\u201d Kimmel continued. \u201cI\u2019ve been very vocal for many years, speaking out against gun violence.\u201d<\/p>\n Cole Tomas Allen, 31,<\/a> was charged Monday with attempting to assassinate the president, as well as firearm offenses.<\/p>\n Kimmel said he was sorry the Trumps and anyone else had to experience the shooting, calling it “traumatic and scary” even though no one was killed.<\/p>\n The president earlier in the day had expressed outrage directed at the comedian.<\/p>\n \u201cI appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel\u2019s despicable call to violence, and normally would not be responsive to anything that he said but, this is something far beyond the pale,\u201d the president wrote in part on his social media platform Truth Social.<\/a> \u201cJimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.\u201d<\/p>\n On X, the first lady said, “\u201cPeople like Kimmel shouldn\u2019t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.\u201d She also called on ABC to “take a stand,” saying the comedian “hides” behind the network.<\/p>\n ABC and Disney did not respond to requests for comment Monday.<\/p>\n The president has long bristled at the otherwise customary joking at his expense by celebrity comedians. <\/p>\n He previously called for Kimmel’s ouster and, in September, ABC briefly suspended<\/a> his late-night program following comments about the political motivations of the man accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah.<\/p>\n