Jimmy Kimmel isn’t backing down. If anything, the late-night host is leaning all the way in. After a tense week that saw President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump publicly demand his firing, Kimmel returned to his ABC desk on Wednesday, April 29, 2026, and trained his cameras on the first couple’s body language during the state visit of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
The result was a monologue that doubled as a victory lap, a roast, and a not-so-subtle middle finger to the people trying to push him off the air.
“Our first couple, Donald and Melania, who lately have seemed closer than ever ― and I like to think I played a part in that,” Kimmel, 58, told his audience before rolling tape of the Trumps greeting the British royals at the White House.
A Hand-Holding Moment Goes Viral
The clip showed the Trumps walking in alongside the king and queen, briefly holding hands before letting go for the cameras. Trump, 79, then tapped Melania’s gloved hand with the back of his finger before the two eventually clasped hands again. Melania, 56, wore gloves throughout the greeting — a detail viewers at home branded “disrespectful” and a flouting of royal protocol.
“The hands say so much,” Kimmel said of the footage.
He kept going, deadpanning that, given the week he’d had with the first couple, the awkward pinky-tap was “a completely normal way to interact for two people who are very much in love.” Then came the kicker: “Maybe that’s why his hands are all bruised ― from Melania swatting them away.”
The bruised-hands bit landed because Kimmel had already noted the president’s hands appeared discolored in the footage — a detail observers have noticed in recent appearances.
How the Feud Got Here
To understand why the host is dancing on this particular ledge, rewind to Thursday, April 23, when Kimmel staged an Alternative White House Correspondents’ Dinner bit on his show. In it, he joked that Melania had “a glow like an expectant widow” and quipped that she’d celebrate her birthday “looking out a window and whispering, ‘What have I done?'”
Two days later, on Saturday, April 25, the joke took on a far darker resonance. A 31-year-old gunman charged through a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton — one floor above the ballroom where the actual White House Correspondents’ Dinner was under way — armed with a shotgun, a handgun and several knives. Secret Service officers subdued him before he reached the packed room. The incident, which the Trumps were attending, could have led to serious casualties.
Melania went after Kimmel on X on Monday, April 27. “His monologue about my family isn’t comedy — his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America,” she wrote. “People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.”
Kimmel responded that night, calling his segment “a very light roast joke” and defending the widow line as a joke about the couple’s age difference. “It was not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination,” he said.
FCC Steps In
The fallout escalated past social media spats. The FCC has since ordered a review of the broadcasting licenses for Disney’s eight owned-and-operated ABC stations — the network that airs “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The licenses were not due for renewal until 2028 at the earliest, with some not due until 2031.
Critics quickly argued the move runs afoul of the First Amendment, and even some of the president’s allies — including Sen. Ted Cruz — called the FCC action a step too far. Kimmel watchers will remember this isn’t his first standoff with the administration: last year, his show was suspended for several days over comments about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk before returning with public sentiment largely rallying around freedom of speech concerns.
Royals, Bells and 4 a.m. Posts
The state dinner itself gave Kimmel plenty more material. King Charles presented Trump with the original brass bell from the conning tower of a Royal Navy submarine called HMS Trump — a gift Kimmel suggested played perfectly to the president’s known fondness for golden objects bearing his name.
“This is a big night for Trump,” Kimmel said. “He absolutely loves being alongside the royals. And the idea that they have to kiss his ass is as bigly as it gets for him.”
The host also flagged the president’s early-morning posting habits, pointing to a 4:05 a.m. Truth Social message about Iran in which Trump warned, “No more Mr. Nice Guy.” Kimmel’s take: “So much for toning down the rhetoric, I guess.”
He rounded out the night with jabs at the Justice Department’s second indictment of former FBI Director James Comey before moving on to other targets.
Whether the FCC review goes anywhere remains an open question. Whether Kimmel plans to soften his approach in the meantime? That question pretty much answered itself on Wednesday night.