Jimmy Kimmel Addresses Donald and Melania Trump Calling for ABC to Fire Him

Jimmy Kimmel is firing back at President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump after they called on him to be fired over a controversial joke.

The late night host clapped back Monday night, opening his monologue with a jab ... joking sometimes you wake up and "the First Lady puts out a statement demanding you be fired" ... adding, yeah, we've all been there.

He made it crystal clear he wasn't calling for violence, insisting the bit was just a "pretend roast" ... clearly a dig at the couple's age gap, not anything darker. Kimmel doubled down that it was a "very light roast joke" about Trump nearing 80 and Melania being significantly younger.

While acknowledging Melania had a "stressful experience over the weekend" following the shooting, Kimmel still turned the tables saying he agrees violent rhetoric should be toned down but suggested she might want to "have a conversation" with her husband about it first.

As you know ... on Monday Donald and Melania joined Karoline Leavitt in piling on the late night host ... demanding Kimmel be fired after his controversial "expectant widow" joke about FLOTUS.

POTUS slammed Kimmel for being "in no way funny" and took a jab at his "terrible Television Ratings" before blasting the comic for airing what he described as a "fake video" of Melania and Barron during his monologue.