Jimmy Kimmel is unfortunately back on the air — and not a single person outside the Hollywood echo chamber was really asking for it. After being suspended for making tone-deaf, borderline vile remarks about the death of Charlie Kirk, Kimmel returned Tuesday night like nothing happened, opening his show with, “Anyway, as I was saying before I was interrupted.”
He walked back his comments, sort of. Actually, no. He wrapped himself in faux humility, teared up a little, and carefully avoided the one thing that would’ve shown any actual integrity: an apology. Instead, we got the Hollywood version of accountability, a few vague platitudes and a standing ovation from his studio audience like he just cured cancer.
“If you like me, you like me. If you don’t, you don’t,” Kimmel said during his monologue, as if this whole controversy was just another day of online trolling and not the result of him politicizing the cold-blooded m**der of a young conservative leader. Let’s be clear: Kimmel implied on national television that “the MAGA gang” was somehow responsible for Charlie Kirk’s death — which was later proven to be false. The shooter, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, acted alone and had no political affiliation with Trump or the conservative movement.
Kimmel claims he “never intended to make light of the m**der” and wasn’t “blaming any specific group.” Really? Because calling out MAGA supporters after a m**der sounds pretty specific. But hey, as long as he tears up on camera and thanks Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart for emotional support, everything’s cool, right?
ABC’s parent company, Disney, originally suspended Kimmel to “avoid further inflaming a tense situation,” which is code for: people were furious and advertisers were getting jumpy. Now they’re bringing him back, but guess what? Not everyone’s playing along. Sinclair and Nexstar, two of the largest local TV station owners in the country, are still preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live and airing news programming instead. That’s roughly a quarter of ABC affiliates refusing to air the guy. If your show’s being pulled in that many markets, maybe it’s time to take a hint.
Kimmel’s not edgy, he’s not brave, and he’s definitely not funny anymore. He’s a millionaire mouthpiece for the DNC who thinks sneering at half the country is good comedy. He used a tragic death to score political points, got caught, and now he wants a pat on the back for not making it worse. Sorry, but no standing ovation here.
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