Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos took their eponymous morning show’s normally frothy fare into politics-adjacent territory Wednesday, weighing in on the reinstatement of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and touching on the controversy that got him pulled off-air last week.
Disney-owned ABC had suspended the late-night talk show host after Kimmel’s comments about the suspected killer of activist Charlie Kirk hit a nerve, especially among conservatives.
Alluding to right-wing commentators’ attempts to pin the brutal shooting on a nonexistent leftist conspiracy, the comedian-host joked that MAGA adherents were “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.”
His comments prompted Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr to threaten ABC, saying on right-wing influencer Benny Johnson’s podcast, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” That drew comparisons to the mafioso movie “Goodfellas” from sources as disparate as The New Yorker editor David Remnick and Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz.
Within hours, affiliate-stations owner Nexstar announced it would stop broadcasting “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and then ABC yanked it altogether. After a huge public reaction characterized by tanking stock prices, canceled subscriptions and celebrity censure, Disney reinstated the show as of Tuesday night.
Kimmel returned with an emotional monologue during which he often appeared close to tears.
Ripa and Consuelos noted that “Live with Kelly and Mark” intentionally embraces the lighter side of life but made an exception to share their thoughts on the firestorm, the First Amendment and their friendship with Kimmel.
“We do a light show here,” Consuelos said. “We don’t talk about any politics here, we just don’t do it” because sometimes people need to “get away from all that.”
Kimmel, they said, is “one of the kindest, most generous” people, cares deeply about his family and “takes care of his crew, his staff, everybody,” Consuelo said. “He really, really cares.”
Tuesday’s monologue was “on point,” he added, praising Kimmel’s humility and sensitivity.
Ripa explained that even with an approach that’s “light, frothy,” “noncontroversial” and as smooth as “melted ice cream,” she and Consuelo have often had to ponder the potential impact of even the most innocuous-sounding remarks “because we’ve come to this inflection point where no matter what you say, somebody is upset.”
She urged everyone to “take a step back and really think. I have a right to speak, and you have a right to say horrible things about me on Instagram. That’s the pleasure about living in a free society. That is important.”
With News Wire Services
