Jimmy Kimmel is accusing his critics of having "intentionally and maliciously mischaracterized" his comments about the accused killer of conservative leader Charlie Kirk, leading to the temporary suspension of his ABC program.
During an interview on Wednesday at the Bloomberg Screentime conference in Los Angeles, Kimmel said he initially dismissed the backlash as "distortion on the part of some of the right-wing media networks" and claimed he only sought to "correct" the record.
Kimmel came under fire after his Sept. 17 monologue, where he claimed that President Donald Trump's supporters were desperate to portray Kirk's accused killer "as anything other than one of them," accusing conservatives of trying to "score political points" over Kirk's murder.
The remarks drew sharp condemnation from viewers and conservatives who said Kimmel was politicizing the tragedy.
ABC parent company Walt Disney temporarily pulled "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" off the air after Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr said the host misled viewers about the accused shooter's political affiliations and urged local stations to push back.
Carr also warned the FCC could review the licenses of stations that failed to address the misinformation if complaints were filed to the FCC.
Kimmel added he did not think his long-running show would return to air.
"A list of demands was presented to me, and I was not going to go along with any of them," he said. "And it's like, well, I guess we're done. I said to my wife, 'That's it. It's over.'"
Kimmel said he spent his time off the air speaking with Disney Entertainment Co-Chair Dana Walden about how to respond.
"It helped me think everything through," he said. "I can sometimes be reactionary. I can sometimes be aggressive, and I can sometimes be unpleasant."
After a six-day suspension, Disney reinstated Kimmel, allowing him to return to the air with partial approval of his remarks.
"I told them the spirit of what I was going to say," Kimmel noted, "rather than specifically what I was going to say."
During his on-air return, Kimmel said it was "never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man. I don't think there's anything funny about it."
But he also doubled down by defending political satire and criticizing what he called "bullying" from Trump and officials in his administration.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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