Podcaster Joe Rogan is defending Jimmy Kimmel amid backlash over a joke the ABC late-night host told about first lady Melania Trump before the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, multiple news outlets report.
Acting as the host of a mock correspondents’ dinner, Mr. Kimmel said Mrs. Trump had the glow of “an expectant widow.” He later insisted the joke was about the age difference between President Trump and his wife, not a call to violence.
Authorities arrested a gunman and charged him with attempting to assassinate the president at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25, two days after Mr. Kimmel’s show.
Mrs. Trump accused Mr. Kimmel of “hateful and violent rhetoric” and called on ABC to pull him off the air, and Mr. Trump renewed calls for Mr. Kimmel to be fired.
On Friday’s installment of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” the podcaster said nobody cared about the joke before the attack and called the response against Mr. Kimmel “ridiculous.”
