'Boycott Kimmel Petition' Hits Over 200k Signatures... Refuses To Apologize To Melania
One apology down, one to go.
That’s how thousands of supporters of first lady Melania Trump are feeling after late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel apologized Sunday to Fox News host Sean Hannity for the “level of vitriol from all sides … (me included)” in the spat between the two men that was sparked by Kimmel poking fun of the first lady last week.
While the Kimmel-Hannity fued may be over for the time being, Kimmel has yet to apologize for his mocking of the first lady. And that has prompted hundreds of thousands of people to sign an online petition calling for a boycott of Kimmel’s nightly ABC talk show.
“Boycott The Jimmy Kimmel Show For Mocking And Attacking Our First Lady Melania Trump,” the petition reads.
As of midday Tuesday, more than 204,000 signatures had been collected on the online petition.
The original goal of petition organizers was 50,000 signatures.
The petition and its signatures will be sent to “the front door of Disney/ABC Studios” in order to “send a message that these attacks on our First Lady will NOT be tolerated,” according to the organizers of the petition.
On his April 9 program, Kimmel made fun of Trump’s Slovenian accent after showing a video clip of her reading to children during the annual Easter egg roll at the White House.
“Be clever and curious, just like a cat,” Trump said as she read to children in the video played by Kimmel. “Ask lots of questions. about this and that.”
While his audience laughed along, Kimmel mocked the first lady’s accent, saying, “Yeah, (ask) about dees and dat.”
Hannity slammed Kimmel during his prime-time Fox News show, calling Kimmel a “despicable disgrace” and an “ass clown.”
Kimmel responded on his own program by firing back at Hannity.
“If I’m an ass clown,” Kimmel said, “You are the whole ass circus.”
The fued spilled over to Twitter, where Kimmel made comments about Hannity’s relationship with President Donald Trump that had homophobic overtones.
“Don’t worry — just keep tweeting — you’ll get back on top! (or does Trump prefer you on bottom?)” Kimmel wrote in one of his tweets.
In his apology Sunday, Kimmel said he “did not intend to belittle or upset members of the gay community” in his criticisms of Hannity. “To those who took offense, I apologize.”
Kimmel mentioned Melania Trump in his apology to Hannity, saying he believed his poking fun of her accent was “harmless.” He also claimed the first lady “almost certainly has enough to worry about without being used a prop to increase TV ratings.”
But there was no outright apology to the first lady, which will almost certainly prompt organizers of the online petition to seek even more signatures in their call for a Kimmel boycott.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
