George Clooney Defends Jimmy Kimmel After Trump’s ‘Heated’ Call for His Firing: ‘Jokes Are Jokes’

George Clooney is speaking out in defense of Jimmy Kimmel after Donald Trump’s latest attempt to pressure ABC to fire the late-night host. The president blasted Kimmel’s “despicable call to violence” on Monday, referring to a joke about Melania having the glow of an “expectant widow.” The comment was made during a skit on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” that aired two days before the White House Correspondents Dinner, which was ultimately canceled after a live shooter infiltrated the building.

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Clooney compared the backlash to another pre-dinner remark that was taken out of context online: one made by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

“Jimmy’s a comedian, and I would argue that Karoline Leavitt didn’t mean shots should be fired,” Clooney said Monday night at the 51st Chaplin Award Gala, where he was honored for his contributions to cinema. “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.”

Leavitt told Fox News on the red carpet before heading into the White House Correspondents Dinner that “there will be some shots fired tonight in the room,” presumably referring to the jokes written for the reception. Clooney says this kind of hyperbolic rhetoric “can be toned down.”

“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.

The Chaplin Award Gala has previously recognized Hollywood figures who have been outspoken about current political events, including Pedro Almodóvar, Spike Lee and Robert Redford. Clooney, son of a journalist, has frequently advocated for freedom of the press. One of the actor’s most recent projects was a stage adaptation of his 2005 film “Good Night, and Good Luck,” which chronicles Edward R. Murrow’s televised takedown of Senator Joseph McCarthy at the height of the Red Scare.

“My father’s rule when we were growing up was to challenge people with more power,” Clooney said. “That’s always been our mantra. That’s what my sister and I believed, and what my mother and father believed in. It’s served us well. It’s gotten us in trouble, and that’s a good thing.”

The evening’s gala presenters included Stephen Colbert, whose Late Show debut in 2015 featured Clooney as his first guest, along with several of his co-stars from various points in his career, including Julianna Margulies (“ER”), Sam Rockwell (“Confessions of a Dangerous Mind”) and John Turturro (“Brother, Where Art Thou?”).

“I always have faith in the press. I always believe in it. I’m the son of a journalist, you know?“ Clooney concluded. “I also think that you’re not supposed to have a good relationship with government. You’re supposed to be questioning them. The people that I support- the Democrats. So, I’m a Democrat. I make no apologies for it. The people that I support — Bill Clinton, Barack Obama — they didn’t enjoy getting chased down by reporters. People in power don’t like to have to answer all the questions in the world. That’s fair. They shouldn’t enjoy it. And the reporters should make sure that they hold people’s feet to the fire. That’s the rules. That’s what Jefferson talked about in 1787. We need to be able to have a free and fair press.”