Jimmy Kimmel said something stupid and should apologize. That is where this should end.
Jimmy Kimmel said something dumb. He joked that the gunman who tried to assassinate Charlie Kirk was “one of them”, meaning a conservative.
That remark was stupid, careless, and offensive to at least half the country, myself included. But the shooter’s politics are as relevant as Charlie Kirk’s politics—in that they are not. Yes, the shooter was comfortable with guns and in a relationship with a trans person in the middle of transitioning. None of these facts are relevant. Like many ordinary Americans, he probably holds ideas that contradict the doctrine of either political party. To blame the Left or the Right for this lone-wolf act is total surface-level mentality. You are just phoning it in, missing the complex dynamics for what they really are.
That goes for Jimmy Kimmel and for anybody who flaps their gums for a living. Jimmy knows better and should apologize. But pulling the show? That is where the real story begins.
Kimmel made his remark. Then FCC chair Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, publicly warned local ABC affiliates that they could face investigations and even license trouble if they kept airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! Many of these affiliates are mom-and-pop operations held together with shoestring budgets and minimum-wage reporters. Carr basically put those tiny, vulnerable outlets in the crosshairs. Nexstar, the biggest ABC affiliate owner, caught the signal and yanked the show.
