George Clooney Defends Jimmy Kimmel After Trump’s Latest Call to Fire Comedian: ‘Jokes Are Jokes’

By Charisma Madarang

Charisma Madarang

George Clooney condemned political violence while also defending comedian Jimmy Kimmel after Donald Trump renewed his call for Disney and ABC to fire him over a White House Correspondents’ Dinner parody.

Last week, Kimmel hosted his own “alternate” gala on Jimmy Kimmel Live in which he delivered a “monologue” for a fake audience that included President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump. At one point, the late-night host joked about the 79-year-old president’s advance age, with the comedian quipping to Melania, “You have a glow like an expectant widow.” The parody was aired two days before the White House Correspondents Dinner on April 25, which was evacuated after a gunman opened fire outside the event. The shooting suspect was charged on Monday with the attempted assassination of the president. Trump seemed to suggest Kimmel’s joke foreshadowed the security incident that led to the evacuation.

According to Variety, Clooney, an outspoken critic of Trump, addressed the incident at the 51st Chaplin Award Gala, where the actor was being honored on Monday evening. Clooney compared the backlash directed toward Kimmel to another remark by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt that was taken out of context. Before heading into the White House Correspondents Dinner, Leavitt told Fox News on the red carpet, “there will be some shots fired tonight in the room,” which appeared to refer to the jokes written for the event.

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