During a poignant memorial service for slain activist Charlie Kirk that bore a potent mix of reconciliation and grief, President Trump got in a slam aimed at late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
Though he did not mention the host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” by name, Trump alluded to “a canceled late-night TV show where the anchor had no talent and no ratings.”
Disney-owned ABC abruptly pulled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from the air last Wednesday — just as the show was about to start taping that evening’s episode — over remarks the comedian made about the murder of Charlie Kirk and his accused killer.
“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,” Kimmel said. Conservatives have blamed the U.S. left for the slaying.
Trump said the comment “implied that Charlie Kirk deserved what happened to him.”
Kirk was gunned down with a single shot to the neck on Sept. 10 as he spoke to a few thousand mostly young people at an outdoor event at Utah Valley University. The 31-year-old father of two had been controversial for his remarks on gender, race and other sensitive issues. His “watch list” branding certain college faculty as “radical professors” made many educators’ lives a “living hell” of threats and hate mail, according to reports and targets’ accounts.
Kimmel expressed sympathy and outrage at the “horrible and monstrous” slaying of Kirk in an Instagram post immediately after Kirk’s death, but his jokes a few days later are what went viral. FCC Chair Brendan Carr said on a conservative podcast Wednesday afternoon that Kimmel had exhibited “some of the sickest conduct possible” and threatened Disney with some type of action. Within hours, affiliate owner Nexstar said it wouldn’t broadcast the show on its ABC channels and shortly after that, ABC suspended it entirely.
With News Wire Services
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