Bill O'Reilly Claims Jimmy Kimmel 'Not Smart Enough' to Understand Melania Trump Joke

Conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly has escalated his feud with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, accusing him of being intellectually incapable of understanding the seriousness of a controversial joke about First Lady Melania Trump.

During Tuesday’s episode of No Spin News, O’Reilly criticized Kimmel’s defense of the remark, which the comedian described as a “light roast.”

“Now, you may remember that in September of last year, Jimmy Kimmel said that MAGA people were partially responsible for the assassination of Charlie Kirk. It was an outrageous comment, a stupid comment, a foolish comment. I gave Kimmel some slack and I did so because everybody makes mistakes,” O’Reilly began. “I thought that was a reasonable approach. I was wrong.”

“Kimmel does not deserve the platform. He is a hater. He pedals hate.”

O’Reilly went on to label Kimmel an “ardent leftist,” questioning his intelligence regarding the joke targeting Melania Trump.

“That’s pretty damning to say that when the president has already [seen] assassination [attempts] of him twice,” O’Reilly said, playing footage of Kimmel suggesting Melania had the “glow like an expectant widow” days before a shooter disrupted the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

“Again, Kimmel is not smart enough in my opinion to understand what he’s saying. He’s not smart enough. Simply doesn’t know.”

O’Reilly then played Kimmel’s defense of the joke, in which the late-night host claimed he opposed “hateful and violent rhetoric.” The conservative commentator dismissed this, pointing to Kimmel’s repeated criticism of the Trump family.

O’Reilly’s criticism extended beyond Kimmel, targeting Disney as a “very liberal corporation” fostering a “hatefest” against Trump. He cited The View as an example, suggesting moderates be added to the panel.

“They could fix ‘The View.’ That’s not hard. Let’s bring in a couple of moderate women to sit on a panel. It’s not as bad as Kimmel, but it’s close. We hate Trump every day, every way.”

O’Reilly also accused Disney of being “the big villain here” for enabling anti-Trump rhetoric.

His remarks followed an FCC letter sent to Disney’s eight local ABC broadcast stations, demanding early renewal applications for their broadcast licenses—a rare move that increases regulatory pressure on the company.

In a letter dated Tuesday, FCC Video Division Chief David J. Brown wrote: “The FCC determines that calling in Disney’s ABC licenses for early renewal, at this time, under the Communications Act’s public interest standard is essential within the meaning of agency regulations. Therefore, Disney’s ABC is hereby directed to file license renewals for all of their licensed TV stations within 30 days—in other words, by May 28, 2026.”