Following the fatal shooting of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk at a Utah Valley University event last week, a boatload of people have lost their jobs for what others have dubbed offensive takes on his passing.
MSNBC analyst Matthew Dowd was the first to see his job evaporate when he seemingly suggested that Charlie Kirk’s divisive statements contributed to his death at the alleged hands of Tyler Robinson. Other people have also suffered serious ramifications for anti-Charlie rhetoric, and the latest victim was noneother than Jimmy Kimmel himself.
Here’s what Jimmy Kimmel actually said about Charlie Kirk
Not a big fan of Jimmy Kimmel, but if you think his show should be canceled for this, you’re a hack and a total fraud who should never pretend to care about free speech pic.twitter.com/FSiktbva6y
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) September 17, 2025
During the September 15 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which was five days after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, the TV host talked about the arrest of Tyler Robinson and the reaction from people on the right.
He said: “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it. In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”
Joking that Donald Trump was taking it hard, the camera cut to a clip of the president changing the subject from Charlie to his upcoming ballroom expansion of the White House.
“I think very good, and by the way, right there where you see all the trucks, they just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House,” the President said, earning raised eyebrows from both the Democrats and Republicans.
Jimmy joked that “construction” was the well-known “fourth stage of grief”, continuing: “Demolition, construction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish, okay?
“There’s something wrong with him, there really is. Who thinks like that? Why are we building a $200 million ballroom in the White House? Is it possible he’s doing it intentionally so we can be mad about that instead of the Epstein list? By the time he’s out of office, the White House will have slot machines and a water slide.”
The speech got his show cancelled
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Jimmy Kimmel Live! has been on the air for over 23 years, and while he’s always addressed major political talking points, those “offensive” few words about Charlie Kirk and Donald Trump got his show pulled from the air.
In a statement to PEOPLE on Wednesday, a representative for Nexstar said it was pulling “Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the foreseeable future, beginning with tonight’s show.”
“Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located,” Andrew Alford, President of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, told the publication.
“Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue.”
Jimmy is yet to issue an official statement.
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Featured image credit: Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Charlie Kirk/Instagram
