The Jimmy Kimmel Backlash

As Ed just pointed out here, Jimmy Kimmel has been indefinitely suspended from the airwaves. Lots of people are celebrating but some, on both the right and especially the left, are saying this crosses a line. 

FCC chairman Brendan Carr made an appearance on Benny Johnson’s show earlier today. Reacting to Kimmel’s remarks Monday night Carr said, “I mean, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.” He continued, “These companies can find ways to change conduct to take action, frankly on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

BREAKING: The FCC Chairman is threatening immediate action against Jimmy Kimmel, ABC, and Disney for deliberately misleading the public by claiming Charlie Kirk’s assassin was a MAGA Conservative.

Chairman Brendan Carr calls Kimmel’s malicious lies are “truly sick” and says they… pic.twitter.com/mGhtGMPReI

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 17, 2025

And now Kimmel has been pulled indefinitely. Lots of people are immediately saying this is censorship.

The countries where comedians can’t mock the leader on late night TV are not really ones you want to live in.

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) September 17, 2025

Total insanity.

I cannot believe all this censorship is happening in the name of a man who lived & breathed freedom of expression until his literal last breath.

This is getting worse than even George Floyd and the COVID Panic. I can’t believe I’m forced to defend Jimmy Kimmel! https://t.co/vPCcK7Znyi

— John Ziegler (@Zigmanfreud) September 17, 2025

Jimmy Kimmel is a comedy show host, not a news show anchor. He joked about the killer being MAGA. He could have easily retracted it.

This is pure censorship. https://t.co/BEgXUFYrkv

— Cathy Young 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱🇬🇪 (@CathyYoung63) September 17, 2025

Comedy. Criticism. Commentary. All protected speech. Pulling Jimmy Kimmel off the air is an outrageous act of censorship.

— Olivia of Troye (@OliviaTroye) September 17, 2025

Brian Stelter and Van Jones are both going off about this on CNN.

🚨 LMAO! CNN and Brian Stelter are absolutely MELTING DOWN after ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel off air

We’ve sent the left into a total tailspin.

Charlie would be so proud of us ❤️🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/Ex2kAruMJv

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) September 17, 2025

There’s another clip in which Stelter and CNN host Jake Tapper offer two different takes on what it was Kimmel actually said that got him in trouble. Stelter starts out agreeing with the critics that Kimmel seemed to be intentionally pushing the idea that the shooter, Tyler Robinson, was MAGA.

Kimmel was expressing what we’ve heard some other liberals say in recent days that the motives are unclear and that maybe the suspect in this case was a Republican or was some sort of far right fringe figure. Of course, there has been a lot of discussion about that in recent days. There’s a lot of evidence pointing in other directions about the suspect, but Kimmel was on the air talking about this, making a very serious commentary amid his jokes in his monologue Monday night.

That really is a claim that a lot of people on the left have been pushing despite the facts to the contrary. And as I explained here, polls indicate those claims have worked. A plurality of Democrats now believe that the shooter is MAGA. That seems like the proper context of these remarks.

On the other hand, Tapper notes that Kimmel didn’t actually say the shooter was MAGA. What he said could be read a different way. 

[W]hat he said specifically was, ‘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.’ That can be read in several ways. That could be heard in several ways. It could also be interpreted. It could also be argued, he’s saying that what the MAGA gang is doing is just trying to make sure that they don’t have any ownership of it, not necessarily that that this killer, this horrible person, was part of them.

It’s a fair point, but the use of the phrase “desperately trying to characterize” does make it sound like MAGA people are pushing a line that isn’t true They aren’t just saying the shooter isn’t MAGA they’re desperately trying to characterize it that way. 

Of course, if you’re not living in the progressive bubble you know by this point that the right was right about Tyler Robinson. The only people who spent the weekend desperately trying to characterize Robinson as something he was not were people on the left. Anyway, here’s the clip of Stelter and Tapper.

CNN’s Brian Stelter and Jake Tapper rush to defend ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel for his comments mocking #MAGA for its reactions to Charlie Kirk’s assassination

Stelter: “Kimmel was expressing what we’ve heard some other liberals say in recent days that the motives are unclear and that… pic.twitter.com/3APcZVpfBI

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 17, 2025

So is this censorship or is it just “consequence culture.” Ultimately, it was a group of affiliate stations which announced they were pulling Kimmel’s show over his comments. This seems to have then prompted the decision by ABC-Disney.

BREAKING NEWS: Official ABC broadcast affiliate Nexstar is REMOVING Jimmy Kimmel from all 32 of their ABC stations until Disney answers for Kimmel’s despicable attack on Charlie Kirk.

Great job @NXSTMediaGroup. Thank you for standing up for Charlie

HERE: https://t.co/BvLYdTEK8I pic.twitter.com/QuABDoLVLi

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 17, 2025

Of course people on the left had no problem with their own side trying to cancel advertising on Elon Musk’s X or even trying to vandalize his cars and dealerships for purely political reasons. They’re all for “consequences” when the victim is someone they hate. What’s different here is the involvement of the FCC in pushing for this. 

Eli Lake says two things can be true at once.

Let’s separate two things. Jimmy Kimmel is an unfunny mediocrity and his take on Charlie Kirk was tasteless, stupid and factually vacant. At the same time the chairman of the FCC should not be programming late night television. That’s a violation of the first amendment.

— Eli Lake (@EliLake) September 17, 2025

The correct opinion is that Jimmy Kimmel should have been taken off the air for being a lying, unfunny idiot stupidly wading into tiresome politics, but the government should not have been involved.

— Frank J. Fleming (@IMAO_) September 18, 2025

Meanwhile, President Trump is celebrating.

“Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to @ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done…” – President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/Vhj6DQSssu

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 18, 2025

That’s the White House account but this version is more readable.

🚨NEW: Trump’s response to ABC canceling Jimmy Kimmel’s show: pic.twitter.com/oXPy5BPEk4

— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) September 18, 2025

No doubt we’ll have a lot more about this tomorrow.

Update: Beege sent me this one. This goes right to the disagreement I highlighted above between Stelter and Tapper. Jimmy Kimmel was planning to say he’d been misunderstood.

This is why. pic.twitter.com/V4W19wZGfu

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) September 18, 2025

Would not surprise me at all if, by tomorrow, the entire left is backing this and claiming only right-wing nutjobs thought he was saying something different. So, I give you Brian Stelter, right-wing nutjob who heard it the same way a lot of people did.

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