National Religious Broadcasters files FCC complaint over Jimmy Kimmel Live monologue

A Christian nonprofit filed a complaint Monday with the Federal Communications Commission, requesting it investigate Jimmy Kimmel's remarks last week that called first lady Melania Trump "an expectant widow."

Kimmel's sketch last Thursday mocked President Donald Trump and his wife in a parody of the White House Correspondents' Dinner, but it aired just two days before an attempted assassin allegedly fired his weapon right outside the ballroom during the real dinner on Saturday, which the president and first lady attended.

"Our first lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow," Kimmel said in the sketch. 

The National Religious Broadcasters organization told the FCC that the remarks, when viewed in context, "raise serious concerns about the normalization and potential incitement of political violence."

The group argued that rhetoric that appears to "trivialize or foreshadow harm against political leaders" should take on heightened significance given the current political climate.

“We should be relieved that lives were spared Saturday evening; but relief can’t become complacency," NRB President Troy Miller said in a statement. "We’re seeing a pattern of violence in this country that didn’t appear overnight. 

"When influential voices joke about death or treat political opponents as disposable, it contributes to a culture where violence feels thinkable to the already unstable," he continued. "National platforms carry real weight, and with that comes responsibility. That’s why this warranted action.”

The investigation request comes after the president and first lady both called for Kimmel to be fired over the sketch. 

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.