Late Night Comic Jimmy Kimmel Apologizes For Joke About First Lady Melania Trump's Accent, Amid Hannity Feud




The Great Smoky Mountain Journal Source: Tuesday, January 01, 2019 02:45 PM

Late Night Comic Jimmy Kimmel Apologizes For Joke About First Lady Melania Trump's Accent, Amid Hannity Feud
After a heated back-and-forth between Jimmy Kimmel and Sean Hannity, the late-night host released a statement Sunday apologizing for a lewd shot at Hannity seen as mocking the gay community -- but Kimmel was unapologetic about his controversial on-air jokes at first lady Melania Trump's expense. Kimmel's message called for an end to the ongoing feud, which started after he delivered jokes making fun of the first lady's accent. In Sunday's note, Kimmel wrote: “I will take Sean Hannity at his word that he was genuinely offended by what I believed and still believe to be a harmless and silly aside referencing our First Lady’s accent. Mrs. Trump almost certainly has enough to worry about without being used as a prop to increase TV ratings.” View image on Twitter View image on Twitter Jimmy Kimmel ✔ @jimmykimmel re. @seanhannity 1:40 PM - Apr 8, 2018 68.4K 20.6K people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy Kimmel continued: “I am hopeful that Sean Hannity will learn from this too and continue his newly-found advocacy for women, immigrants and First Ladies and that he will triumph in his heroic battle against sexual harassment and perversion.” The comedian also drew backlash for a tweet mocking Hannity's connections to President Donald Trump, a tweet that was widely seen as anti-gay. The tweet was quickly deleted, but many fans still were outraged. In response to the tweet, Kimmel wrote: “By lampooning Sean Hannity’s deference to the President, I most certainly did not intend to belittle or upset members of the gay community and to those who took offense, I apologize.”