Kimmel risks Keith Olbermann fate by refusing apology for false claims

If Jimmy Kimmel is curious about what his future holds, he should consider the fate of another obstinate jerk who insisted on insulting half the country during his television heyday: Keith Olbermann.

Kimmel is in hot water, and out of a job for now, because he clearly intimated that the alleged murderer of Charlie Kirk was a pro-MAGA conservative, a disgusting lie that not only insults conservative Americans, but insinuates that Kirk’s murder was in some way his own fault.

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Much to the chagrin of Democrats, it now turns out that Kimmel wasn’t suspended owing to any supposed threats from Federal Communications Chairman Brendan Carr, but rather because when his bosses at ABC told him to apologize for lying on air, he flatly refused.

Kimmel’s pride and abject hatred of President Donald Trump and his MAGA movement are clearly more important to him than respecting his audience, much less keeping his estimated $15 million salary. And that is where the Keith Olbermann cautionary tale comes in.

Olbermann was once a beloved sportscaster who decided to switch to doing news commentary on MSNBC. It worked for a while, but at some point his unrelenting bitterness and sarcasm turned off the viewers, and that turned off the folks who signed his paycheck. Now, Olbermann posts unhinged social media screeds that are so full of vitriol you want to send a wellness check over to his Central Park pad.

This is basically what Jimmy Kimmel has turned his one-time comedy show into. It is little more than an extended anti-Trump TV ad. His audience rarely laughs, but dutifully claps at his statements. They are really applauding themselves, for being good anti-Trump people.

Kimmel’s schtick at this point, if you can even call it that, has turned into being a one-note, Trump-hating angry clown. And now that his show has been pulled, he has become something even more pathetic, a sad clown. Operas have been written about such characters.

Like Olbermann, Kimmel is now very disappointed and depressed about the fact that, by insulting half the country, he lost his gig. Apparently, it is those of us who make up that half that he is so disappointed in.

Kimmel should take some time and check out the X feed of Olbermann, who is now arguably the most pathetic poster on the platform. Is this really where Kimmel wants his career to land, as a bitter old man screaming at clouds?

How hard would it be for Kimmel to do his show on Monday and just say, “Hey, I made it look like I was saying Charlie Kirk’s assassin was pro-MAGA. That’s my bad. I worded it poorly and I apologize?”

That is probably all it would take for him to get his job back, even if he continued to use it as an anti-Trump platform. But for Kimmel and his ilk, attacking Trump is worth it even though it does Trump no harm.

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Obsession is a dangerous thing, especially, it seems, when it comes to Trump. Look at Liz Cheney, who threw away being the third most powerful Republican in the House of Representatives, and for what? To publicly insult Trump and his voters? Why?

Like Olbermann, Cheney could still be an important voice in our discourse if only she could have shown the slightest bit of respect for the millions of voters who put Trump in office.

It may not be too late for Kimmel to turn this disaster around, and honestly, it could be very good for the country if he did. It might help to give permission to his most loyal and liberal fans to take it easy on their Republican friends and family. To remember we are all Americans.

Unfortunately, Kimmel is getting bad advice from the people in his industry who are rallying around him as if he is a martyr. This is all the more galling because Charlie Kirk, the object of his mirth and scorn, actually was martyred, for real. 

Just apologize Jimmy. Don’t fall into oblivion by becoming the next Keith Olbermann. Just apologize, otherwise the only joke left to tell will be:

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Not Jimmy Kimmel.

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