Melania Trump vs. Jimmy Kimmel: Fox News Host Groans as Ratings Spike
Melania Trump is throwing down the gauntlet against Jimmy Kimmel.
On Monday, a Fox News host couldn't hide her irritation during a segment about Kimmel's recent jab at the former First Lady. The April 27 episode of Outnumbered featured a heated discussion about Melania's X post, where she slammed Kimmel for his "expectant widow" quip.
Earlier that day, Melania, 56, took to social media, declaring, "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 deepen the political sickness within America. People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate."
Emily Compagno, 46, didn’t hold back, criticizing Kimmel’s mockery during the April 23 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! This backlash comes on the heels of a terrifying incident where gunfire erupted at the Washington Hilton ballroom on April 25, sending guests—including Melania and Donald Trump—into a panic.
Compagno asserted that Melania was "right to call out leadership," adding, "We always talk about this. Whenever we see this heinous viewpoint on TV or in the news, or in the newspaper, or a podcast, etc., there is a platform behind it enjoying the advertising dollars that the clicks on it."
Then came the bombshell: Harris Faulkner revealed that Kimmel's ratings are actually climbing. “Our team at Outnumbered looked this up: his numbers are actually up,” she stated.
Compagno groaned audibly, “Ugh!” shaking her head and squirming in her seat.
Faulkner chimed in, “I don’t watch enough nighttime news to know if they’re even competitive with each other, or with the audience,” before boasting about her own show’s numbers: “It’s 1.8 million a night, which is far less than most of the daytime programming on Fox.”
Kimmel had previously roasted President Donald Trump, 79, and Melania during his mock Correspondents’ Dinner. He quipped, “Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”
He didn’t stop there; he also jabbed at her documentary’s dismal Rotten Tomatoes score, saying, “I want to congratulate you, Madam First Lady, on your huge accomplishment: the world’s first motionless picture.”
Just two days later, chaos erupted as gunshots rang out at the Correspondents’ Dinner, where hundreds of journalists and politicians—including Melania and Donald—were present.
During his April 27 show, Kimmel addressed the backlash from the Trumps, defending his joke as "a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s [President Trump] almost 80 and she’s younger than I am." He insisted it was "not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination" and emphasized his long-standing stance against gun violence.
