NEWSAdam Carolla Backs Jimmy Kimmel Amid Melania Trump Joke Backlash
Adam Carolla defended Jimmy Kimmel.
May 1 2026, Published 6:29 a.m. ET
Jimmy Kimmel’s escalating clash with President Donald Trump and Melania Trump has drawn an unexpected defender: his former Man Show co-host Adam Carolla. As backlash over Kimmel’s “expectant widow” joke continues, Carolla says it was just standard comedy.
“That’s a pretty typical roast joke,” Carolla said on The Adam Carolla Show. “It is also a trope: Any younger, beautiful woman who’s married to an older guy, especially if the guy’s rumored to be sort of a douchey, you would make that joke at any roast.”
He called the joke typical roast humor.
The defense comes as Kimmel faces calls from both the president and first lady to be fired from ABC, following outrage over the joke delivered during a parody ahead of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
‘Unrelated’ Timing Fuels Debate
Adam Carolla said the timing was unrelated to the shooting.
Carolla, who leans right, also pushed back on attempts to link Kimmel’s joke to the subsequent shooting at the event, arguing the timeline undermines the criticism.
“When you make a joke and then nothing happens, like there was no shooting, no one made a thing about it before the shooting,” he said. “Like, this thing happened, then the joke happened before. So, A) it’s unrelated.”
He added that such humor would have been fair game in any traditional roast setting. “If Trump was at a roast on Thursday, you would do that joke,” Carolla said. “Well, if he’d never been president, you would do that joke.”
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Hollywood Loyalty or Strategic Positioning?
He argued the joke fit standard comedy roasts.
“Of course Adam Carolla is defending his longtime colleague on the Man Show,” said communication psychologist Dr. Lillian Glass. “In Hollywood loyalty is currency. Adam just got points and respect from colleagues for sticking up for a fellow talk show host comedian.”
Glass also pointed to the cultural climate within the entertainment industry.
“In Hollywood, to stick up for Trump and Trump associates like Melania is taboo,” she said. “So he wanted to show that he was in the correct side of Hollywood. This translates into his not being cut off or cancelled so he can still be employable.”
A Controversy That Keeps Expanding
The dispute expanded across media and politics.
The dispute has grown well beyond a single joke. Melania Trump called Kimmel’s remarks “hateful and violent rhetoric,” while the president described them as a “despicable call to violence” and demanded ABC take action.
The situation has since escalated into a broader media and political standoff, with federal regulators moving to review ABC’s broadcast licenses years ahead of schedule.
