Trump ally James Comer defends Kimmel's free speech after 'widow' joke, says we shouldn't cancel comedy

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., politely disagreed with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, defending late-night host Jimmy Kimmel against renewed calls to remove him from the air following a controversial joke.

The White House kept up its heat on Kimmel Monday, with Trump calling on Disney to fire the ABC host. This came after first lady Melania Trump condemned Kimmel for referring to her as "an expectant widow" days before the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was interrupted by a suspected attempted assassin.

"I don’t want to cancel comedy," Comer said. "I believe in freedom of speech. I think that was, you know, a lot of Kimmel’s jokes are tasteless and probably borderline inappropriate," Comer said in an interview with NewsNation. 

"But at the end of the day, he has a right to do that."

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He said if audiences find it distasteful, they should change the channel, adding that if the FCC does scrutinize Kimmel’s network, it should be for something more substantial.

Saying he is a fan of comedy, particularly comics like Dave Chappelle, the Kentucky Republican argued that, if anything, cracking down on comedians has been an activity associated with the political left in recent years.

"All the comedians, and I know a lot of them, feel like many people, usually from the left, have kind of canceled comedy, and I think that’s unfortunate," Comer said. 

"But hopefully Kimmel can proceed with jokes that don’t pertain to assassinations or things like that, because I think that gets a lot of people jacked up, and I think that contributes to the rise in political violence that we’re seeing."

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Kimmel has defended his joke about Melania Trump having the glow of an "expectant widow," insisting his jab suggesting the first lady will be happy when her husband dies "was a very light roast joke about the fact that he's almost 80." Many of his critics were not persuaded.

"It was not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination," Kimmel said. 

Last year, Kimmel was briefly suspended by Disney after controversial remarks about the assassination of Charlie Kirk sparked outrage. He returned to the air days later and insisted he never intended to make light of Kirk’s death.

In December, ABC extended his contract until at least May 2027.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and to ABC but did not immediately receive responses.

Fox News’ Brian Flood contributed to this report.