George Clooney Defends Jimmy Kimmel Amid White House Backlash to Melania Trump 'Expectant Widow' Joke
George Clooney is coming to Jimmy Kimmel‘s defense amid President Donald Trump‘s latest attempts to get the late-night host and comedian fired.
The 64-year-old two-time Oscar winner talked to Variety on Monday (April 27) during the 51st Chaplin Award Gala where he was being honored for his cinema contributions.
Kimmel has come under fire over a joke in which he said Melania Trump had the glow of an “expectant widow” just a few days before the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was interrupted by a shooter and subsequently canceled.
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In response to Trump demanding the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host be fired, George said, “Jimmy’s a comedian, and I would argue that Karoline Leavitt didn’t mean shots should be fired. She was making a joke. Fair enough. You look at that side and go, ’Well, jokes are jokes.’ But the rhetoric is a little dangerous. And we’ve seen it a lot lately.”
Before the dinner occurred, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was on video being interviewed by Fox News and said, “It’ll be funny. It’ll be entertaining. There will be some shots fired tonight in the room. Everyone should tune in, it’s going to be really great.”
The clip has since gone viral.
Here’s how Kimmel responded to the backlash.