Kimmel, in a skit that aired on April 23 that satirized the then-upcoming White House Correspondents’ Dinner, pretended to address Melania and joked that the First Lady had “a glow like an expectant widow.”

But after the actual dinner on April 25 was disrupted by a shooting, suspected to be the third assassination attempt on the President, Melania claimed on social media that Kimmel’s “hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country” and that “his monologue about my family isn’t comedy.” The President also chimed in, referencing Kimmel’s “expectant widow” joke and claiming that it was “far beyond the pale.”

Kimmel defended himself on Monday night’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, saying that his remark was not a call for violence but rather “obviously was a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they’re together.”

Kimmel continued: “It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80, and she’s younger than I am. It was not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination, and they know that.”

On Saturday evening (April 25), Trump was hosting the White House Correspondent’s Dinner alongside his wife, Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and his pregnant wife Usha Vance.

Hundreds of people were in attendance at the Washington DC gala when a gunman opened fire near a security checkpoint at the event. Video footage showed the president hiding under the table before being quickly whisked away by a team of Secret Service agents.

31-year-old Cole Allen has since been named as a suspect.

There has been numerous attempts on Trump’s live over the last few years, something which Jimmy Kimmel used as the punchline of one of his jokes on his show on Thursday night – which was, of course, recorded before the shooting took place.

Parodying the first lady, Kimmel said of the dinner: “Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”

Little did Kimmel know that just two days later the president would have yet another close encounter with death.

In the wake of his remarks, Melania has taken to Twitter to rebuke the TV host and comic.

“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,” she said in a statement shared today (April 27).