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Jimmy Kimmel Is Living in a Material World
WASHINGTON — During the Monday monologue that spawned this kerfuffle, late-night talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel stepped in it when he said, “The MAGA Gang (is) desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
As arrogant people often do, Kimmel didn’t fact-check his erroneous presumptions. Despite the obvious clues, Kimmel didn’t know shooting suspect, Tyler Robinson, is a leftist who had dipped a toe into trans politics.
So, sorry, Kimmel, “this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk” is not MAGA, not “one of them.” He’s one of yours — if you want to go down that road. Which Kimmel did.
I’m old enough to remember when giants like Johnny Carson saw it as their job to entertain, not lecture. Savvy hosts made a point of ribbing both the left and the right, all in good fun.
No more. In 2022, Kimmel, who was raised in Las Vegas, told the “Naked Lunch” podcast that he lost half of his fan base over his treatment of Trump. And he was OK with that.
I wonder if, maybe, ratings have not been Kimmel’s friend because he is not very funny, especially to people who feel that he is insulting them.
On Wednesday, ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! I was struck by how many entertainers took Kimmel’s side — but not because he is such a cut-up during the monologue. Does he have a right to not be funny, and still make millions from the network? (RELATED: Pull ABC’s Broadcast License? After the Last Few Days? Hell, Yes!)
The marvelous Jean Smart noted on Instagram, “I am horrified at the cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel Live. What Jimmy said was FREE speech, not hate speech. People seem to only want to protect free speech when it suits THEIR agenda.”
Actually, what Kimmel said was free speech and sort of hateful.
He made his choice. Then ABC made its choice.
The First Amendment also protects ABC’s right to suspend Kimmel “indefinitely” — which ABC did after Nexstar and Sinclair decided to stop airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! on their stations.
Kimmel’s error about Kirk’s alleged killer, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr noted on CNBC, was misleading and could open the door for the FCC to take a closer look at ABC’s license, which comes with “a unique obligation to operate in the public interest.”
Now that scares me. Carr may be right on point, but he’s offering a novel political power over the press that could live on for decades — and not in a good way.
Perhaps the best take on this controversy came from CNN’s conservative stalwart, Scott Jennings, who said, “I expect to get fired every day. This is a tough business. And if I were Jimmy Kimmel, I mean, I’m surprised that a guy who once wore blackface and caused large-breasted women to jump on trampolines lasted this long in the media business to begin with. He was long past his sell date, and the fact that he couldn’t realize that and was going down this road of partisan hackery being unfunny and demonizing half the country, that’s wild.”
The hardest lesson for those of us in the news business remains. You can dedicate your career to the news. But you don’t own it.
READ MORE from Debra J. Saunders:
Charlie Kirk Showed American Youth How to Be Conservative on Campus
Horror in Charlotte, and in Utah
Epstein’s Playbook: Slime Operates by Spreading Itself
Contact Review-Journal Washington columnist Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com. Follow @debrajsaunders on X. COPYRIGHT 2025 CREATORS.COM
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