A late-night television feud between Jimmy Kimmel and the Trump family reignited this week, with the ABC host using a live-event mishap as ammunition for a fresh round of mockery aimed at the president’s daughter and wife.
The spark came courtesy of UFC commentator Jon Anik, who flubbed his introduction of First Lady Melania Trump during Sunday night’s UFC Freedom 250 broadcast, accidentally announcing her to the arena as “First Lady Ivanka.”
Timing made the error particularly notable, since the fight card took place on President Trump’s 80th birthday.
Kimmel wasted no time capitalizing on the moment, airing the flubbed introduction for his studio audience and feigning bewilderment as he asked, “The First Lady Ivanka? What?”
He followed with a pointed punchline directed at the president himself, remarking, “I guess somebody’s birthday wish came true.”
The line drew on a well-documented history of Trump making public comments about his daughter’s physical appearance over the years.
One frequently referenced instance traces back to 2004, when Trump told shock jock Howard Stern that he found it acceptable to refer to Ivanka, then a young woman in her twenties, as “a piece of a**.”
A separate moment from 2006 has also resurfaced repeatedly in coverage of the family. While sitting beside Ivanka on The View, Trump told the talk show’s hosts, “I’ve said if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.”
This week’s monologue segment continues a pattern that stretches back several months, during which Kimmel has repeatedly drawn the ire of Trump supporters and administration allies alike.
In April, for instance, the comedian compared Melania’s demeanor to that of someone who exuded “a glow like an expectant widow,” a line that ignited immediate backlash and renewed petitions calling for his ouster from network television.
That same stretch of months also saw Kimmel weather criticism over separate remarks he directed at MAGA supporters following the death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
Melania herself responded publicly to the April joke, issuing a statement in which she branded the comment “hateful and violent.”
Kimmel pushed back against that characterization at the time, framing the bit instead as commentary on the age difference between the president and first lady, paired with what he described as her generally reserved public manner.
His provocations toward the Trump family didn’t end there.
Just days before this week’s monologue, Kimmel posted a sarcastic birthday greeting to his Instagram account that mimicked a card the president was once reported to have written to Jeffrey Epstein roughly 23 years earlier—a claim Trump has consistently rejected.
Epstein’s name has become something of a running theme in Kimmel’s material, surfacing repeatedly as public attention continues to focus on how the administration has managed records tied to the disgraced financier’s case.
The comedian’s grievances with the administration stretch into other territory as well, including his vocal accusations that officials played a hand in CBS’s decision back in July to cancel The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Speaking with Vulture earlier this month, Kimmel made his suspicions plain, telling the outlet, “We’re not just dying of natural causes. We’re being poisoned.”
Trump and his immediate family aren’t the only ones catching heat from Kimmel’s writers’ room.
Spencer Pratt, the former reality television personality now campaigning for mayor of Los Angeles, has found himself a recurring punching bag, alongside Markwayne Mullin, who currently leads the Department of Homeland Security.
A request for comment sent to the White House by the Daily Mail had not been answered as of this report.
Whether Kimmel’s commentary continues unchecked may ultimately come down to a calendar date already on the books: ABC has confirmed his existing contract runs out in May of next year, leaving the show’s long-term future an open question.
