Here's What Jimmy Kimmel Said About Charlie Kirk Upon His Return to the Airwaves

Matt Vespa | September 24, 2025 12:45 AM

Anti-Trump late-night host Jimmy Kimmel returned to the airwaves last night. ABC suspended him on September 17 after his atrocious monologue about the Charlie Kirk assassination. He didn’t outright mock the death of the Turning Point USA founder, but he did peddle the lie that the suspected assassin, Tyler Robinson, was a MAGA supporter. If that wasn’t his intention, the delivery was awful, but we all know the deal here.

The palace intrigue was that if his show had aired as planned, he wouldn’t have apologized but doubled down. Then, some were saying he wouldn’t apologize tonight. He did, saying he did not and would never make light of the death of Charlie Kirk, that he has many family members and friends with whom he disagrees politically, and he doesn’t think the shooter represents anyone.

Jimmy Kimmel is back on the air tonight. Here's what the late-night host had to say in response to the backlash he received for saying Charlie Kirk's assassin was part of MAGA:

"It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man... For those who think I did… pic.twitter.com/MHk4KMhxdk
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 24, 2025

“This was a sick person who believed that violence was a solution, and it isn’t—ever,” said Kimmel.

He added that over the years, he’s received threats, and he knows those people do not represent the many conservative friends he has in his life. He wanted to clear the air.

He later said that it’s important that we live in a country where we have a show like this.

Did he clean things up? I’ll let you debate that below. My thing is that you got suspended for peddling a lie, man. You can say it—but your employer, ABC, can fire or suspend you. It wasn’t an attack on free speech, as evidenced by Kimmel’s return, which we all knew was going to happen. No way a bunch of ABC executives in the belly of the Left Coast was going to cancel this show.