Andrew Kolvet, the manager producer of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” stated Jimmy Kimmel ought to have apologized for his on-air feedback about Charlie Kirk’s homicide.
“When someone like Jimmy Kimmel says the shooter of Charlie was MAGA, what he’s really saying is that it’s OK to lie about conservatives, that their lives don’t matter, that his political agenda and cultural agenda is more important than the life of my friend, who was just taken from us and robbed from us,” Kolvet stated Wednesday on Fox Information’ “America’s Newsroom.”
Kimmel returned to “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Tuesday evening after ABC suspended the present “indefinitely” final week attributable to Kimmel’s feedback in his Monday monologue, the place he stated that the “MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize” Kirk’s alleged shooter “as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
When Kimmel returned Tuesday evening, he stated, via tears, it was “never” his intention to make mild of Kirk’s homicide.
“Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of … it was obviously a deeply disturbed individual,” Kimmel stated. “That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make, but I understand that to some that felt either ill-timed or unclear or maybe both. And for those who think I did point a finger, I get why you’re upset. If the situation was reversed, there’s a good chance I would have felt the same way.”
It’s nonetheless unclear if Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old suspected of killing Kirk whereas the conservative activist was talking on campus at Utah Valley College on Sept. 10, had any political agenda. Shell casings discovered on the scene discuss with anti-fascism, however they might be a reference to a well-liked online game. Investigators haven’t linked Robinson to any left-wing group, regardless of President Donald Trump and different conservatives saying the shooter was part of the “radical left.”
Kolvet additionally criticized Kimmel’s tears in a social media submit Wednesday morning, writing that the host solely bought emotional “because he almost torched his entire career.”
“Kimmel is an unrepentant liar who tried to blame Charlie’s assassination on the part of the country that just spent the last 2 weeks praying and holding vigils,” Kolvet wrote. “What he’s really saying is that he still thinks it’s fair game to slander conservatives.”
“He would rather advance his own political and cultural agenda than confront the truth. The truth is that his own side has been fanning the flames of political assassinations for years,” Kolvet continued. “The truth is that someone on the left picked up a gun and murdered someone on the right who advocated for peaceful debate. It’s critical that liars admit they lied. There can be no restoration without that. Anything short of that is a fake and scripted cry line designed to endear him to his fans, not to make right the wrong he committed.”
Kimmel’s reps didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Greater than 400 celebrities signed a letter condemning the suspension of Kimmel’s present, calling it a “dark moment for freedom of speech.” Many critics stated that the suspension was a First Modification violation as a result of Trump’s FCC Chair Brendan Carr hinted at punishing Disney, which owns “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” community ABC, with regulatory motion for the host’s remarks.
Even Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a staunch Republican and Trump supporter, criticized the transfer, saying it set a harmful precedent.
“Going down this road, there will come a time when a Democrat wins again. They will silence us,” he stated. “They will use this power, and they will use it ruthlessly, and that is dangerous.”
Throughout his monologue Tuesday, Kimmel thanked Cruz for standing up for the First Modification.
“I don’t think I’ve ever said this before, but Ted Cruz is right,” Kimmel stated.
