Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel got his job back with ABC but forgive me if I don’t care too much about his underwhelming, delayed apology to keep himself on air or his defense of “free speech.”
Kimmel was briefly suspended by ABC, which is owned by Disney, after he made a comment that Charlie Kirk was assassinated by somebody who was “MAGA.”
Some called this comment a “joke,” but it certainly didn’t seem like it. Though, in fairness, I can’t recall the last time Kimmel—an alleged comedian—actually said something funny. That was probably reason enough to pull the late-night comic with a laughably small audience for network television off the air.
On Tuesday, Kimmel returned and sort of apologized in his opening monologue, which was a prerequisite from ABC for him returning to his show. Kimmel never actually apologized for or addressed the comments that got him suspended. He mentioned Kirk’s killing only once, then made it about himself, saying that he “gets a lot of threats.” He also thanked some conservatives for defending him.
But as podcast host Megyn Kelly wrote on X, it’s a little rich that Kimmel has come out to celebrate speech and keeping his job when he did nothing to defend others and even fanned the flames of cancelation attempts in the past.
“Remember when I was cancelled & held back tears on the air & Kimmel stood up for me saying ‘All she did was ask a Q about blackface Halloween costumes, whereas I, Jimmy, have actually worn blackface many times & still have a show! This is wrong!’” Kelly said. “Me neither.”
In 2018, Kelly said in comments she later apologized for that wearing “blackface” was OK when she was a child as long as it was done for some kind of costume. She was eventually removed from NBC’s “Megyn Kelly Today” over it.
Yet Kimmel had painted his face to portray black characters like Oprah Winfrey on Comedy Central’s “The Man Show.” He said nothing when Kelly was fired.
Kimmel seems firmly committed to the principle of free speech … for me, and not for thee.
Here are four additional cases in which Kimmel either kept silent or cheered when others were canceled.
Roseanne Barr
In 2018, ABC fired Roseanne Barr from the “Roseanne” show when the comedian compared former adviser to President Barack Obama, Valerie Jarrett, to the “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes.”
She shortly thereafter apologized for the comment.
“I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans,” Barr wrote at the time. “I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me-my joke was in bad taste.”
But that wasn’t enough to save her place on the show, which became a spin-off called “The Connors.”
Kimmel didn’t quite cheer on her firing, but he didn’t say it was wrong either. Instead, he made fun of “Roseanne” being canceled, but said people should have “compassion” for Barr, who he said had “mental health” issues.
Barr hasn’t exactly been happy with the way ABC ultimately dealt with Kimmel. She said that there was a massive double standard in how they treated each situation.
“I got my whole life ruined, no forgiveness and all of my work stolen and called a racist for time and eternity, for racially misgendering someone,” Barr said on NewsNation Tuesday. “It just shows how they think. It’s a double standard.”
She then mocked Kimmel.
“I think he’ll cheer himself on and his fans, all what is it, 2,000 of them,” she said. “They’ll feel heartened and, you know, like they won another battle against Trump and the people of the United States.”
Donald Trump
When President Donald Trump was banned from most major social media platforms as he exited the White House following his first term, Kimmel was quick to revel in it. He not only took a shot at Trump but mocked his supporters.
“Not only did Trump get banned from Twitter—Google, Apple, and Amazon removed the Parler app from their platforms,” Kimmel said in a video segment. “Parler is where all the right-wingers gather to post QAnon nonsense and misspell the word ‘Parler.”
He kept going, mocking conservatives for being “bitter” that they were being silenced despite the existence of conservative talk radio.
Maybe Kimmel should have been fine with being fired since he’ll always have Bluesky.
Tucker Carlson
Kimmel celebrated Fox News letting former host Tucker Carlson go in 2023. He said that Tucker had been “fired,” which was met with cheering applause by the audience.
He called the move a “delightful shock” and said that Tucker was one of the most “despicable” people to appear on television.
That Kimmel thinks this is fine, it’s just ridiculous that he’s crying about being temporarily removed from his show for making his own “despicable” comments.
ABC Coworkers Fired for Not Taking the COVID Vaccine
Maybe the worst example of Kimmel not giving a fig about other people getting canceled or fired for their views was that he said nothing when numerous colleagues were fired at ABC for not taking the COVID-19 vaccine.
In one case, the long-time announcer on Kimmel’s show, Dicky Barrett, had to leave the network because he wouldn’t take the vaccine.
Kimmel made it clear what he thought about people who wouldn’t take the vaccine. He said during a “joke” in one of his opening monologues that people who don’t get the COVID shot should be denied beds at hospitals.
