Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel has said he made a light roast joke calling first lady Malenia Trump an “expectant widow.” 

He stated that he was in anyway suggesting that President Donald Trump should be assassinated.

“Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,” Mr Kimmel said on his show last Thursday, three days before a gunman Cole Tomas Allen opened fire at White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

Amid criticisms and call for his sack by the Trumps over his statement, Mr Kimmel during his monologue on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday said the joke was “a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s (President Trump) almost 80 and she’s younger than I am.

“It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination and they know that, I’ve been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence in particular,” the comedian said.

Responding to the Trumps’ criticism that his joke was hateful and a call for violence, Mr Kimmel said, “I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject, I think a great place to start to dial that back is having a conversation with your husband about it.”

On Monday, Mrs Trump urged the ABC, the platform airing Mr Kimmel’s show, to take action against the comedian, whom she described as a coward.

Mr Trump also called for his sack over the issue a few days before the failed fresh attempt on his life.

Armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives, Mr Allen fired at a federal official during the Washington dinner, disrupting the event.

Though he could not access the ballroom where Mr Trump, his wife and Vice President JD Vance were seated, the trio were swiftly evacuated from the venue by Secret Service agents.

Appearing before the court on Monday, Mr Allen faces three charges, including attempting to assassinate Mr Trump, a charge that could attract a life imprisonment penalty.