Jimmy Kimmel is looking back at his comments about the “MAGA gang” and President Donald Trump after Charlie Kirk‘s assassination with clarity — his statement was “mischaracterized” and it shouldn’t have been a “big problem.”
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On Oct. 8, during a Bloomberg Screentime event in Los Angeles, the late-night host reflected on his controversial monologue that led to Disney’s ABC temporarily suspending Jimmy Kimmel Live!
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In a conversation with moderator Lucas Shaw, Jimmy revealed that he didn’t think there was a “big problem” with his Sept. 15 monologue.
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“I didn’t think there was a big problem,” Jimmy said. “I saw it as distortion on the part of some of the right-wing media networks and I aimed to correct it.”
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“I have problems like all the time, and it’s kind of funny because sometimes you think, Well, this is not a problem, and then it turns into a big problem. And sometimes it goes the other way, where to think like, ‘Uh oh, this is going to be a problem’ and nobody really notices.”
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“I think when they pulled the show off the air, I thought, Well, that’s unusual,” Jimmy continued.
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When Lucas asked him if he believed that his comments were mischaracterized, he responded bluntly. “I didn’t feel like it. It was,” he said. “It was intentionally, and I think maliciously, mischaracterized.”
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On Sept. 10, Charlie was shot and killed while speaking at a campus event at Utah Valley University.
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On Sept. 15, Jimmy addressed the media’s reaction to the assassination during his monologue.
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“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,” he said. “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”
“On Friday, the White House flew the flags at half-staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level, you can see how hard the president is taking this,” Jimmy added, showing a clip of Trump changing the subject from Charlie to boast about the White House ballroom instead.
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On Sept. 17, Nexstar said in a statement that its “owned and partner television stations affiliated with the ABC Television Network” would “preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the foreseeable future, beginning with tonight’s show.”
“The idea that I would not have, whatever it was, 40 affiliates, I was like, ‘Well, that’s it,'” Jimmy told Lucas. “There seemed to be a list of demands presented to me that I was not going to go along with any of them. And I was like, well, I guess we’re done. I said to my wife, ‘That’s it. It’s over.'”
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On Sept. 22, the Walt Disney Company issued a statement confirming that Jimmy Kimmel Live! would return to the air. “Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country. It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive.”
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In the statement about the late show’s return, the Disney Company said, “We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”
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Discussing those “thoughtful conversations” with Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger and Disney Entertainment co-chairman Dana Walden, Jimmy said, “These are people that I’ve known for a long time and who I like very much, and we all wanted this to work out best.”
Jimmy explained that talking with Bob and Dana “helped me think everything through,” and “understand where everyone was coming from,” after the reaction to his monologue.
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“I can sometimes be reactionary, I can sometimes be aggressive, and I can sometimes be unpleasant, and I think that really having those days to think about it was helpful,” Jimmy said.
Elsewhere in the interview, Lucas asked Jimmy if he foresaw being so centered on politics lately. “I’ve always been interested in politics, but I was never a particularly political person. I also think maybe, maybe you did, but maybe you didn’t have to be back then,” he said. “I think this is a very different situation that we’re in now. And also, my job, as I see it, is to talk about the news of the day. And these are the big stories of the day.”
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According to Nielsen, Jimmy Kimmel Live!‘s first episode back garnered over 6 million views, which is four times the usual audience. The monologue alone from that episode had over 22 million views on YouTube.
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