ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel has come under fire in the wake of Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting for a joke he told mocking First Lady Melania Trump’s “expectant widow” look.

Whatever one might think about the motivation for the joke or whether it should lead to Kimmel being fired, few would compare it to someone casually using a common and innocuous idiom like “shots fired.”

But that’s precisely what Hollywood star and far-left mouthpiece George Clooney did when he tried his best to defend Kimmel’s joke.

Fox News provided this report:

“Jimmy’s a comedian, and I would argue that Karoline Leavitt didn’t mean shots should be fired,” Clooney said at the 51st Chaplin Award Gala, according to Variety. “She was making a joke. Fair enough. You look at that side and go, ’Well, jokes are jokes.’ But the rhetoric is a little dangerous. And we’ve seen it a lot lately.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said in an interview before the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) Dinner that there would be “shots fired” in the president’s speech at the event, referring to his likely verbal jabs at the press.

“When one side is calling anyone they disagree with traitors to the country, which is a charge that’s punishable by death, just because they don’t agree with someone, I think the rhetoric is a little too heated,” Clooney said.

Critics say his “both sides” schtick is getting stale in the aftermath of the third near-miss assassination attempt on the president:

In contrast, here’s the nothing-burger story about Leavitt’s coincidentally timed remark, per Yahoo News:

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made a comment that accidentally turned out to be true at the 2026 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday, April 25, 2026.

On the red carpet of the event, Leavitt said, “It will be funny. It will be entertaining. There will be some shots fired tonight in the room (via Fox News).” She added, “Everyone should tune in, it’s gonna be really great. I’m looking forward to hearing it.”

Shortly after, real gunfire erupted at the event. President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and other high-level cabinet officials were quickly evacuated from the venue, and no one was hurt. Trump later said in a press conference that one of the officers was shot, but his bulletproof vest saved him.

Here’s some additional coverage of the developing narrative:

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
 

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.