Jimmy Kimmel is back on the air and he definitely isn’t sorry for the things he said about Charlie Kirk and MAGA that got him suspended for five days last month.
The late-night host sat down for an interview with Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw in which he took absolutely no responsibility for what happened. In fact, he blamed his brief punishment on those who “maliciously mischaracterized” him.
On Friday’s Show, Megyn was joined by Walter Kirn, editor-at-large of County Highway, to discuss Kimmel playing the victim card and why it speaks to his waning influence.
Kimmel’s Claim
As Megyn explained, Kimmel “decided to give a full throated interview about his five-day suspension” perhaps because he falls into the category of “people who are on TV and worry about their image.”
When Shaw asked the comedian how long it took him after he erroneously claimed on national television that MAGA supporters were response for Kirk’s assassination to “realize there was problem,” Kimmel essentially confirmed he did not and does not view those comments as problematic.
“I didn’t think there was a big problem… I just saw it as distortion on the part of some of the right-wing media networks, and I aimed to correct it,” he claimed. “I have problems, like, all the time. And it’s kind of funny because sometimes you think, ‘Oh, this is not a problem,’ and then it turns into a big problem. And then sometimes it goes the other way where you think like, ‘Oh, this is going to be a problem,’ and nobody really notices.”
When Shaw re-asked the question, Kimmel said he didn’t realize until he was suspended. “I think when they pulled the show off the air,” he said to laughter. “I thought, ‘Well, that’s unusual.'”
He characterized the talks that happened internally with Disney executives as “really good conversations” that helped him “kind of understand where everyone was coming from.” Kimmel said they ultimately came to terms on “the spirit” of what he was going to say in his return, which, as you may recall, did not include any sort of apology or correction.
“It was something really that had to come from inside me. It had to be truthful,” Kimmel said. “The important thing to me was that I was able to explain what I was saying, what I was trying to say–“
“Because you felt like your initial comments had been mischaracterized,” Shaw interjected.
“I didn’t feel like it,” Kimmel responded emphatically. “It was intentionally and, I think, maliciously mischaracterized.”
Beginning of the End?
It remains unclear what was taken out of context given that this is exactly what Kimmel said on the air on Monday, September 15, after much was already known about the suspect and his leftist ideology:
KIMMEL: We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang 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.
“MAGA reacted by saying, ‘How dare you suggest he was one of ours. He wasn’t. He was a leftist. He wrote it in the bullet casings. His family says it’s so. The governor of Utah says it’s so,'” Megyn noted. “And he his defense is: ‘I was maliciously mischaracterized’… I wish the reporter had done his job and said, ‘Exactly how were your remarks mischaracterized?’ ‘What did you say, and what did they say?’ I don’t think he could answer that question.”
Kirn agreed. “I still don’t know what was mischaracterized there. It was a little bit subtle. He couched it in a negative, but he was obviously saying that… the identity of the killer was obvious and his sympathies were obvious,” he said. “The thought it sort of came out, or people mischaracterized him, or he could have said it differently is ridiculous. Every one of those words is worth its weight in gold, is rehearsed, and that guy is a professional. He knew that his staggering, failing career was going to be well served by a controversy like this.”
He then offered a theory. “I was told months ago that he was on the way out when [Stephen] Colbert got canceled, and this was, I think, a cynical attempt to – at a very tender moment – kick the hornet’s nest and get himself back in the headlines,” Kirn suggested. “But the funny thing is Jimmy Kimmel is not talented enough and his product is not in demand enough that he’ll last… He does seem a little bit like he’s lost some of his swagger… because… though he can get attention through extreme measures, that’s about all and I think he’ll just quietly shuffle off the stage at some point.”
That can’t happen soon enough in Megyn’s view. “I really hope he does because this is amazing. He is not taking responsibility for what he did… The problem is he was characterized exactly right and what he said was wrong… and now he has the nerve to come out and play the victim,” she concluded. “This is exactly why Disney pulled the show and wanted him to apologize, which he did not do, and he is back on the air, again, to middling ratings.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Kirn by tuning in to episode 1,169 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.