Jimmy Kimmel has again poked fun at Donald Trump, after the president appeared to joke about his own mortality only hours after criticising the comedian for making similar remarks.
On Tuesday, Trump drew attention during a speech held to welcome King Charles and Queen Camilla to the US, when he briefly turned the focus to his relationship with Melania and suggested their marriage would never outlast the long union of his parents.
He made the comment while discussing his ties to the UK, including the fact his mother Mary was born in Scotland, and noting that she and Fred Trump were married for more than 60 years.
“And, uh, excuse me, if you don’t mind, that’s a record we won’t be able to match, darling,” Trump said, drawing laughs from those onstage as he addressed his wife. “I’m sorry, it’s just not going to work out that way. We’ll do well, but we’re not going to do that well.”
The line was widely interpreted as a nod to the couple’s age gap and the reality that Trump, who is set to turn 80 in a few months, is unlikely to be able to reach the same milestone his parents did.
But while the moment played as a laugh on stage, it landed differently for Kimmel, who has recently faced demands that he be fired over jokes about Trump’s age and mortality.
Addressing it in his opening monologue on Tuesday night, Kimmel said: “Wait a minute, did he just make a joke about his death? My God. You should be fired for that!”
He continued, “Only Donald Trump would demand I be fired for making a joke about his old age and then a day later, go out and make a joke about his own old age!”
Trump and Melania have both publicly called for Kimmel to lose his job after he referred to the first lady as an ‘expectant widow’ last week during a mock White House Correspondents Dinner-style roast.
Two days later, the real event was disrupted by an active shooter, leading to an assassination attempt on Trump.
Although there is no suggestion the situations were connected, the Trumps have continued to argue Kimmel should be removed, accusing him of having ‘intent to divide out country’.
Kimmel, however, has stood by what he described as a joke delivered in a roast context and has said he won’t apologise.
“It was a very light roast joke about the fact that [Trump] is almost 80 and she’s younger than I am,” he said. “It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination, and they know that I’ve been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence in particular.”
He added, “I am sorry that you and the president and everyone in that room on Saturday went through that. I really am. Just because no one get got killed doesn’t mean it wasn’t traumatic and scary. We should come together and be best. We really should.”