White House Communications Director Steven Cheung has taken aim at Jimmy Kimmel following a joke that the comedian made about Melania Trump at the Oscars. The political advisor took to X, slamming the late-night host for taking a jab at the First Lady’s documentary.
White House staff slams Jimmy Kimmel over Oscar speech
Jimmy Kimmel poked fun at First Lady Melania Trump’s Amazon documentary at the 2026 Oscars. The late-night talk show host took to the stage on Sunday to present the Academy Award for Best Documentary. Without directly referencing Donald or Melania Trump, Kimmel quipped, “Oh man, is he gonna be mad his wife wasn’t nominated for this.”
Shortly after, Steven Cheung responded with a scathing X (formerly Twitter) post to blast Kimmel over the joke. “Jimmy Kimmel (Mr. Blackface) is a classless hack who is self-projecting his depression and sadness onto others,” the Communications Director penned. He added, “He lives a pathetic existence where nobody – not even his family – enjoys his miserable company. The only people giving him any attention are Hollywood Elites. BUH-BYE!”
Cheung called Kimmel “Mr. Blackface,” reportedly referring to the talk show host’s previous apology for his impressions of Oprah Winfrey, Snoop Dogg, and other Black celebrities, in his earlier comedy sketches.
In addition to his remark about Melania’s documentary, Kimmel also made a strong statement about free speech. He said, “As you know, there are some countries whose leaders don’t support free speech. I’m not at liberty to say which. Let’s just leave it at North Korea and CBS.”
Kimmel has long criticized Donald Trump in the opening monologues of his late-night show. The host spoke about the President yet again during the Vanity Fair Oscar after-party. In an interview with Variety, he confessed to being “exhausted” from joking about Trump on his show every night.
“We live in a ridiculous country. We always lived in a ridiculous country, but it was always ridiculous in a fun, Mr. T kinda way. Now we’ve got a different Mr. T,” Kimmel stated.
