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Andrew Kolvet, the executive producer of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” said Jimmy Kimmel should have apologized for his on-air comments about Charlie Kirk’s murder.
“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 said Wednesday on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.”
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Kimmel returned to “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Tuesday night after ABC suspended the show “indefinitely” last week due to Kimmel’s comments in his Monday monologue, where he said 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 night, he said, through tears, it was “never” his intention to make light of Kirk’s murder.
“Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of … it was obviously a deeply disturbed individual,” Kimmel said. “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.”
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It’s still unclear if Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old suspected of killing Kirk while the conservative activist was speaking on campus at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, had any political agenda. Shell casings found at the scene refer to anti-fascism, but they could be a reference to a popular video game. Investigators have not linked Robinson to any left-wing group, despite President Donald Trump and other conservatives saying the shooter was a part of the “radical left.”
Kolvet also criticized Kimmel’s tears in a social media post Wednesday morning, writing that the host only got emotional “because he almost torched his entire career.”
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“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 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
More than 400 celebrities signed a letter condemning the suspension of Kimmel’s show, calling it a “dark moment for freedom of speech.” Many critics said that the suspension was a First Amendment violation because Trump’s FCC Chair Brendan Carr hinted at punishing Disney, which owns “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” network ABC, with regulatory action for the host’s remarks.
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Even Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a staunch Republican and Trump supporter, criticized the move, saying it set a dangerous precedent.
“Going down this road, there will come a time when a Democrat wins again. They will silence us,” he said. “They will use this power, and they will use it ruthlessly, and that is dangerous.”
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During his monologue Tuesday, Kimmel thanked Cruz for standing up for the First Amendment.