Jimmy Kimmel opened his eponymous show Tuesday night after six days of public outcry over ABC’s decision to put it on indefinite hiatus over comments the host made last week about Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer.
Kimmel addressed his remarks about Kirk while calling out the need to defend free speech in the U.S.
“I want to make something clear, because it’s important to me as a human, and that is ― you understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man,” Kimmel said tearfully. “I don’t think there’s anything funny about it. I posted a message on Instagram on the day he was killed sending love to his family and asking for compassion and I meant it. And I still do. Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions ― it was a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make.”
Kimmel went on to denounce threats made by Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr to Disney, calling efforts to curb speech “un-American” and “dangerous.”
“Our freedom to speak is what they admire most about this country. And that’s something I’m embarrassed to say I took for granted until they pulled my friend Stephen off the air and tried to coerce the affiliates who run our show in the cities that you live in to take my show off the air. That’s not legal, that’s not American. That is un-American. And it’s so dangerous,” he said.
