By Joe Flint and Isabella Simonetti

Jimmy Kimmel was under pressure again.

The Federal Communications Commission had launched an early review of Disney's broadcast television licenses after the latest clash between the comedian and President Trump. The president had again called for him to be fired.

Instead of defusing the situation or pivoting to a new subject, Kimmel leaned in Tuesday. "King Charles and Queen Camilla are here to visit President Beef Unwellington," he quipped in the opening monologue of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

This is the affably pugnacious persona that the late-night host has cultivated in a career that initially centered more on comedy routines involving bikini-clad women than in trading political barbs. These days, he is an unlikely voice of the left-leaning resistance.

With Comedy Central's "The Man Show," Kimmel and co-host Adam Carolla celebrated everything bro-culture. The show, which started in 1999, featured mud-wrestling, lots of beer and sketches with titles such as "Household Hints From Adult Film Stars."

But over the past decade, Kimmel has become a top foil for the president and his allies, skewering Trump for everything from foreign policy to his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump would often respond in kind, saying Kimmel lacked talent, pulled in paltry audiences and should be dropped by ABC.

On Monday their feud came to a head again.

What drew Trump's ire this time was a recent joke Kimmel made at the expense of first lady Melania Trump. On Kimmel's April 23 show, the host presented a mock White House Correspondents' Association Dinner speech in which he joked that the first lady had "a glow like an expectant widow."

The comedian made the comment days before a gunman opened fire outside the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. The suspected gunman, Cole Allen, has been charged with attempting to assassinate Trump and two firearm offenses.

Trump said on Truth Social on Monday that Kimmel's joke was a "despicable call to violence" and "beyond the pale." The first lady also called on Disney's ABC to "take a stand" against Kimmel.

On Tuesday, the FCC said it was launching an early review of Disney's broadcast licenses. The agency said the review was tied to an existing investigation into Disney's diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The timing so close to Kimmel's latest spat with the administration is "coincidental," said a person familiar with the FCC's plans.

Still, Kimmel is now once again at the center of a high-profile battle between the Trump administration and a major media outlet. And the fight is playing out just weeks into Josh D'Amaro's tenure as Disney's new chief executive.

The storm is also brewing against a backdrop of declining economics for most late-night programs. Such shows have been cutting costs, including by cutting the number of episodes and eliminating live bands. CBS is pulling the plug on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" next month, with the network citing financial woes.

Disney pulled Kimmel's show briefly last September, when comments he made related to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk led two station groups to drop "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" -- which caused an uproar among viewers and free-speech advocates. Kimmel was brought back, and later his contract was renewed through May 2027.

This time around, there haven't been talks of benching Kimmel within the company. Disney's senior leadership didn't hold any meetings with him on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Instead, the attitude inside Disney was more frustration that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr was, in their view, trying to use the broadcast-license investigation threat to attack programming the administration doesn't like, the person said.

In response to the FCC's license review, Disney said it was confident that its record "demonstrates our continued qualifications as licensees under the Communications Act and the First Amendment."

First Amendment advocates say Trump's latest attacks, coupled with the FCC review, represent a weaponization of government bureaucracy to go after speech to which the administration objects.

"The First Amendment says people can make jokes, including those the White House considers offensive," said Robert Corn-Revere, chief counsel at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

Kimmel, who was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Las Vegas, got his start in radio before turning to television. After stints as the co-host on "Win Ben Stein's Money," then "The Man Show" and "Crank Yankers," in which he and other comedians voiced puppets making actual prank calls, he moved to ABC's late-night lineup in 2003.

He since has become a pillar inside Disney, hosting the Emmys and the Oscars and performing regularly at Disney's annual presentation to advertisers.

Kimmel's wife, Molly McNearney, is executive producer and co-head writer of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" She has been with the show since it launched and has played a pivotal role in the host's evolution from purveyor of dude humor to political commentator, people close to him said.

Trump appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" as a presidential candidate in 2015, taking jabs from Kimmel with a wide grin and listening gamely as Kimmel read aloud from a fake Dr. Seuss-style children's book titled "Winners Aren't Losers."

"'There are two kinds of people. Which one will you be? A loser such as them?' Would you like to finish?" Kimmel prompted Trump. "'Or a winner...'"

"Like me," Trump responded, to applause from the studio audience.

Trump remained a major subject for Kimmel -- and most other late-night hosts -- throughout the president's first term and into the second. Trump has also called for the dismissal of Colbert as well as NBC's Seth Meyers.

Kimmel conveyed a serious tone on his show in 2017, after one of his children was born with a congenital heart disease and required surgery. He gave a tearful monologue about his family's experience, and in subsequent months returned to the subject, calling for reforms to ensure more Americans had access to affordable healthcare and speaking out against Republican-backed legislation aimed at repealing Obamacare.

Such advocacy amounted to a preview of Kimmel's political evolution. Amid the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, he issued an apology for using blackface during bits years earlier in impressions of Oprah Winfrey and Karl Malone.

Kimmel isn't apologizing these days. He said Monday that his comments about the first lady were a "very light roast," and on Tuesday's show noted that the president himself seemed to make a joke about his own advanced age, after calling for Kimmel's ouster for a line on a similar subject.

"I have not seen Jimmy Kimmel pull back an inch, thank God," said Rob Burnett, a former executive producer of David Letterman's CBS late-night show.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 29, 2026 16:06 ET (20:06 GMT)