Keith Olbermann Critiques Melania Trump’s Language Skills in Latest Commentary

Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann sparked backlash after taking a swipe at Melania Trump’s English proficiency as her new documentary debuted. ’30 years in this country and still virtually – and, here, hilariously – unintelligible,’ Olbermann wrote on X Wednesday. He was responding to the First Lady’s appearance on Fox News, where she lauded her husband US President Donald Trump as a ‘unifier.’ ‘I think he is unifier,’ Melania said. ‘He is unifier, not just here in United States but around the world.

She added: ‘He stopped many wars. As well here in United States, it’s a lot of opposition – and that’s the problem, right?’ Melania acknowledged that people did not agree with ‘everything’ Trump does, but also called for the US to come together. ‘They just need to come on the same page and see that he wants to make America only safer and better,’ Melania told Fox News. Her remarks prompted the mean-spirited jab from Olbermann, as he took aim at her native Slovenian accent.

The former ESPN analyst was lambasted for his take on social media, with online commenters turning Olbermann’s dig around on him. ‘English is her second language and she still makes more sense than you,’ one user on X said. Another added: ‘You’re really making fun of an immigrant for having an accent?’ The user accused Olbermann of being a hypocrite and said he offered an ‘interesting take for a man frequently accusing the right of xenophobia.’

Others shared their own experiences with immigrants and accents, as they panned Olbermann’s post about the First Lady. ‘Hey [expletive]. Both my parents were immigrants,’ another user said. ‘My father had a heavy Polish accent and never lost it.’ He also called Olbermann ‘nothing but a [expletive] bigot’ following the incendiary post. A separate commenter related the ex-MSNBC figure’s comments about Melania to his own family.

‘Yeah, I let my immigrant wife, electrical engineer stepson and mechanical engineer stepdaughter know every day how hilariously stupid they are because they have accents,’ he wrote. Melania was born in Slovenia – then a part of Yugoslavia – and moved to New York in 1996. The First Lady, who is the first naturalized citizen to hold that role, told MSNBC in 2016 that she spoke Italian, French and German in addition to English and Slovenian. ‘She speaks five languages,’ another X user said. ‘How many can you? or any of the hypocrite leftists?’

He called Olbermann’s tweet an example of the so-called ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ and said ‘the left is now xenophobic and misogynistic.’ Olbermann’s comments came ahead of Melania’s eponymous documentary film being released in the US on Friday. The documentary follows the First Lady in the 20 days leading up to her husband President Trump’s second inauguration last January. Amazon secured the film for $40million, which marked the largest documentary deal in history. Thursday’s exclusive premiere featured a red carpet full of Trump administration members, including Pete Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Olbermann wrote that ‘nobody of consequence’ had attended the star-studded debut gala. ‘Just Trump Trash,’ he posted on X. The former SportsCenter anchor’s disdain for the Trumps goes back to the US President’s first term in office. Earlier this month, Olbermann also criticized Trump for capturing Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. He called for Trump to be ‘impeached and removed from office immediately’ following the arrest.