What did Jimmy Kimmel say about Charlie Kirk?
In the boiling hot political temperature following the US conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination, comedian and television personality Jimmy Kimmel is facing the indefinite suspension of his popular late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, on ABC.
Fatally shot in the neck on September 10th during a debating event at Utah Valley University, the Turning Point USA co-founder was killed approximately 20 minutes after taking the stage in a crowd of around 3,000 people. Rushed to Timpanogos Regional Hospital in a critical condition, Kirk was pronounced dead in the afternoon at 31 years old. Apprehended two days later, the shooting suspect, Tyler Robinson, has been charged with suspicion of aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily harm, and obstruction of justice.
Jimmy Kimmel’s comments
It’s this maelstrom that Kimmel has found himself caught up in. Long known for imbuing his humorous bits and monologues with liberal potshots at the MAGA cohort, recent material touching on the febrile aftermath of Kirk’s murder has resulted in ABC suspending the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show after 20 years of broadcasting, triggering glee from the president and his base, and consternation from media allies and free speech organisations.
On the Friday airing of his show on September 12th, Kimmel described the El Capitan Entertainment Centre studio’s city, Los Angeles, as “the second largest city in our bitterly divided nation” before offering his thoughts on “the senseless murder of the popular podcaster and conservative activist Charlie Kirk”.
Lambasting the “extraordinarily vile responses” on both sides of the political spectrum, Kimmel then began laying into the president’s divisive rhetoric so soon after the murder in light of the school shooting that took place in Colorado the same day.
“With all these terrible things happening, you would think that our president would at least make an attempt to bring us together,” Kimmel stated. “But he didn’t. President Obama did. President Biden did. Presidents Bush and Clinton did. President Trump did not. Instead, he blamed Democrats for their rhetoric. The man who told a crowd of supporters that maybe the Second Amendment people should do something about Hillary Clinton. The man who said he wouldn’t mind if someone shot through the fake news media. The man who unleashed a mob on the capital and said Liz Cheney should face nine-barrel shooting at her, for supporting his opponent, blames the radical left for their rhetoric”.
As the debate around free speech and cancel culture raged on across the weekend, Kimmel returned for his Monday show on September 14th with plenty more to say on the right of American politics. Following a spiel excoriating Trump’s tirade on the NFL’s “sissy” new kick-off rule as “pro-concussion”, Kimmel then waded in once more on the political fallout from Kirk’s assassination, criticising the eager rush among the right to paint the suspect as part of some mass, left national security threat.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel mused. “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving on Friday. The White House flew the flag at half-staff, which got some criticism…you can see how hard the president is taking this”.
In actuality, the suspect’s political convictions were cryptic at this point. While much of the Maga sphere had reacted with incandescent rage toward the Left before any details were known about the shooter, initial scrutiny of the shell casings referencing online meme culture and fringe video games humour had sparked theories of allying with the Groyper sub-culture that orbits white nationalist and Kirk adversary Nick Fuentes. Suggestions that Robinson’s motives veered toward the left were bolstered, however, by alleged text exchanges between him and his gender transitioning roommate and suspected romantic partner Lance Twiggs, reportedly stating, “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out”.
On the September 16th episode, what followed was a clip of Trump addressing the press on the White House green, pivoting the conversation toward the building of a new ballroom when asked his thoughts about the loss of his major ally and key political consultant. “He’s at the fourth stage of grief,” Kimmel quipped, before adding, “Construction”. He then went further, “This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish”. Later, tearing apart everybody from FBI director Kash Patel, US representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, and the conservative pundits on Fox & Friends, comedic take-downs of the Kirk affair and the surrounding MAGA drama began to look like a routine subject of Jimmy Kimmel Live!
By Tuesday (September 15th), the President and First Lady Melania Trump had arrived in the UK with full honours, received at Windsor Castle by the Royal Family, and attended a luxury state banquet. Kimmel wasn’t finished with the US right, noting in his monologue: “Meanwhile, many in Magaland are working very hard to capitalise on the murder of Charlie Kirk. Yesterday, JD Vance, who himself famously called Donald Trump ‘America’s Hitler’, hosted the Charlie Kirk podcast from the White House, where he pointed his little mascara-stained finger directly at the left”.
Responding to a clip of Vance claiming that political violence is the main preserve of the left, Kimmel countered with data from the Department of Justice detailing the right’s majority share of domestic terror, before highlighting the history of incendiary rhetoric on the movement Vance represents: “Who wanted to hang the guy who was vice president before you? Was that the liberal left or the toothless army who stormed the capital on January 6th? The president and his henchmen are doing their best to fan the flames so they can attack people on the dangerous left…”
The backlash to Kimmel’s comments
This monologue appeared to be the final straw. On Wednesday, the Trump-appointed media regulator, Brendan Carr, appeared on The Benny Show podcast, threatening legal broadcasters’ licences if action was not taken against Jimmy Kimmel Live! Hours later, ABC made their announcement, podcast host Benny Johnson gloating: “It’s called soft power… The Left uses it all the time. Thanks to President Trump, the Right has learned how to wield power as well”.
Meanwhile, Nexstar Media, one of the biggest owners of TV stations in America, said it would not air Jimmy Kimmel Live for the foreseeable future. They labelled his comments as “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse”.
Additionally, Sinclair Group, the largest ABC affiliate group, confirmed plans to do the same, and also announced they would air a Charlie Kirk special in place of Jimmy Kimmel Live on September 19th.
Will Jimmy Kimmel return to screens?
With suspicions around the timing and escalating tension concerning free speech and cancel culture, Kimmel’s suspension has placed heat on fellow talk show hosts Stephen Colbert, or any other liberal media figure who wishes to stray into the topic of Kirk’s murder and the possible political capital to be gained.
Johnson’s smirking delight flashes a chilling insight into the forces of aggrieved US conservatism should it get its way. Seething with resentment at the notion of having suffered under an imagined liberal chokehold, the mobilised hard right will enthusiastically steamroll dissenting opinion and alternative lifestyles that refuse to bend to conservative hegemony, powered by the collective rage that the right and the liberals’ deindustrialisation and economic dispossession have helped cultivate across the decades. This kind of Christian nationalism has a martyr to rally around, and retribution will be pursued vigorously and with a furious “they started” justification if not challenged effectively.
The future of Jimmy Kimmel Live remains uncertain. A spokesperson for ABC, which is owned by Disney, said in a statement regarding the show’s future on September 17th: “Jimmy Kimmel Live will be pre-empted indefinitely”. Kimmel is also yet to address the matter directly.
