Explainer
Explainer:
What did Jimmy Kimmel say about Charlie Kirk’s killing?
In his
Monday evening monologue, Kimmel had suggested Kirk’s alleged killer, Tyler
Robinson, might have been a pro-Trump Republican
Jonathan
Yerushalmy
Thu 18
Sep 2025 07.55 BST
When
announcing that it would pull Jimmy Kimmel’s programme, the TV station operator
Nexstar Media Group called comments the comedian had made about the far-right
activist Charlie Kirk’s death “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in
our national political discourse”.
Supporters
of Donald Trump have praised the decision, and the White House deputy chief of
staff called it an example of “consequence culture”.
But what
did Kimmel actually say to raise the ire of the Maga movement?
During
his Monday evening monologue, Kimmel appeared to suggest Kirk’s alleged killer,
Tyler Robinson, might have been a pro-Trump Republican.
“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,” he said.
It
appears this was the comment that most angered Trump supporters and officials.
In an
interview on Wednesday, the Trump-appointed head of the US media regulator, the
Federal Communications Commission of the United States (FCC), said it appeared
to be a “concerted effort to try to lie to the American people”.
Brendan
Carr went on to call Kimmel’s comments an attempt to “play into a narrative
that this was somehow a Maga or Republican motivated person”.
Carr went
on to threaten that if action was not taken against Kimmel, there would be
“additional work for the FCC ahead”.
He added:
“It’s long past the time that a lot of these licensed broadcasters themselves …
say: ‘We’re not gonna run Kimmel any more ... because we licensed broadcasters
are running the possibly of fines, or licensed revocation from the FCC’.”
The
Democratic senator Ed Markey called it “censorship in action”.
“The FCC
chair threatens ABC and Disney over Kimmel’s comments. Hours later, he’s off
air. It’s dangerous and unconstitutional. The message to every media company is
clear: adopt the Maga line or the Federal Censorship Commission will come after
you,” he added.
.
Kimmel
also mentioned reaction to the death of Kirk on his Tuesday programme, saying
“many in Maga-land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie
Kirk”.
Referencing
the vice-president JD Vance’s comment while guest-hosting Kirk’s podcast,
Kimmel said “the president and his henchmen are doing their best to fan the
flames, so they can I guess attack people on the dangerous left”.
The
Hollywood Reporter has said Kimmel was preparing to address the backlash on
Wednesday night’s show and explain how his comments had been taken out of
context. Its report says he was not intending to apologise for them.
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.webp)
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário