Late night host Jimmy Kimmel said Wednesday that his comments in the wake of Charlie Kirk\u2019s assassination that preceded his brief suspension by ABC were deliberately mischaracterized by his critics.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was intentionally, and I think maliciously, mischaracterized,\u201d Kimmel said in an appearance on \u201cBloomberg Screentime\u201d<\/a> with Bloomberg reporter Lucas Shaw.<\/p>\n Kimmel said the situation was \u201cvery unfair to my bosses at Disney,\u201d and they collectively \u201caimed to correct it.\u201d<\/p>\n At first the \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d host said he \u201cdidn\u2019t think there was a big problem\u201d with what he had said after Kirk was shot. \u201cI just saw it as distortion on the part of some of the right-wing media networks, and I aimed to correct it.\u201d<\/p>\n Kimmel realized there was a problem \u201cwhen they pulled the show off the air,\u201d he told Shaw with a joking tone, which caused the audience to laugh. \u201cI was like, \u2018Well, that\u2019s unusual.’\u201d<\/p>\n While the entertainment world criticized the show\u2019s suspension, Kimmel said several \u201cgood conversations\u201d were had between him and his bosses at Disney.<\/p>\n The day after Kirk\u2019s assassination at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, Kimmel called the death a \u201csenseless murder\u201d in his opening monologue.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen a lot of extraordinarily vile responses to this from both sides of the political spectrum,\u201d Kimmel said. \u201cSome people are cheering this, which is something I won\u2019t ever understand.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWith all these terrible things happening, you would think that our president would at least make an attempt to bring us together, but he didn\u2019t,\u201d the host continued.<\/p>\n \u201cPresident\u00a0Obama\u00a0did.\u00a0President Biden\u00a0did. Presidents\u00a0Bush\u00a0and\u00a0Clinton\u00a0did,\u201d he said, while showing screenshots of former presidents\u2019 social media statements. \u201cPresident Trump did not. Instead, he blamed Democrats for their rhetoric.\u201d<\/p>\n The following Monday, Kimmel said his show \u201chit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Several media outlets, including Variety<\/a> and The New York Times<\/a>, reported this was the remark that led ABC to suspend his program after he was criticized by conservatives and the Trump administration, including the head of the Federal Communications Commission.<\/p>\n The president cheered the suspension and slammed ABC for ending it<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t believe ABC Fake News gave\u00a0Jimmy Kimmel\u00a0his job back. The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled,\u201d Trump wrote in a\u00a0Truth Social post<\/a>. \u201cSomething happened between then and now because his audience is GONE, and his \u2018talent\u2019 was never there. Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who\u2019s not funny, and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE.\u201d<\/p>\n Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n