Jimmy Kimmel slammed for doubling down on Charlie Kirk monologue: ‘Reprehensible’

Social media users lambasted Jimmy Kimmel as “disgusting” and “reprehensible” after the late-night host defended his comments mischaracterizing Charlie Kirk’s assassin and blamed the backlash that got his show briefly suspended on conservatives’ “misconstruing” him.

“I didn’t think there was a big problem,” Kimmel said of his Kirk remarks in a Wednesday interview with Bloomberg. “I just saw it as distortion on the part of some of the right-wing media networks.”

Online commenters were quick to blast Kimmel for “playing the victim.”

“He should apologize for his comments but instead tries to justify them. He is shameless,” one user wrote in a post on X.

Another stated: “How did the entire country mischaracterize [what] he said? He said it plainly.”

A third person slammed Kimmel as a “hypocrite,” writing, “He celebrated when Tucker [Carlson] and Roseanne [Barr] got fired.”

In the Wednesday interview, Kimmel shared he hadn’t seen the torrent of criticism for his Kirk comments coming.

“Sometimes you think this is not a problem and then it turns into a big problem, and then sometimes it goes the other way,” he said.

Reporter Lucas Shaw asked the comedian at what point he realized his previous comments about Kirk were going to be a major problem.

“I think when they pulled the show off the air,” Kimmel replied, prompting laughter from the audience.

Social media users were less amused.

“All he’s doing is defending himself, and that just makes his actions even more disgusting,” wrote an X user.

Another shared a one-word summary of their reaction: “Reprehensible.”

Asked whether he felt his comments had been misconstrued, Kimmel said, “I didn’t feel like it was. It was.”

“It was intentionally and I think maliciously mischaracterized,” he added.

Last month, ABC suspended Kimmel’s show for nearly a week after he falsely implied Kirk’s killer was a MAGA conservative and blamed right-wingers for politicizing the shocking assassination.

“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,” Kimmel said during his show’s opening monologue on his Sept. 15 monologue.

ABC’s suspension of Kimmel came just a few hours after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr warned the network’s owner Disney that “we can do this the easy or the hard way” – which critics including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) likened to a threat from a Mafia boss.

Carr denied that his calls for ABC to take action against Kimmel were linked to the comedian’s notorious anti-Trump politics.

Shortly before Kimmel’s return, President Trump – who had cheered his ouster – wrote in a post on Truth Social: “I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back. The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled!”

During his return monologue, Kimmel failed to apologize for his remarks and urged viewers to speak out against Trump, calling the president a “bully.”

“He’s not stopping. And it’s not just comedy,” Kimmel said. “He’s gunning for our journalists, too. He’s suing them, he’s bullying them.”