Vance calls for Kimmel apology after suspension over Charlie Kirk remarks
Ohio Sen. JD Vance says he would welcome an apology from Jimmy Kimmel as the host returns to air following a brief suspension tied to remarks about Charlie Kirk.
JD Vance said he would "love" Jimmy Kimmel to apologize to Erika Kirk and the people he "slandered" after Kimmel returned to the air following a brief suspension. The Ohio Republican made the comments Thursday on Fox News' The Ingraham Angle, where he also urged accountability for what he described as violent rhetoric from the left.
Kimmel's late-night program was pulled from the air last Wednesday after his remarks about the alleged assassin of Charlie Kirk sparked backlash from conservatives and FCC chair Brendan Carr, who warned that the agency could take regulatory action.
Vance, in the interview, argued that Kimmel's claim of telling a joke was insufficient and that his remarks were not a joke; he said Kimmel was actually accusing right-wing America, conservative America, of killing Charlie Kirk. "We now know that is false. Charlie Kirk was murdered by a left-wing assassin who was radicalized by some of the rhetoric that we see coming from the far-Left," Vance said during the appearance on The Ingraham Angle. The senator added that, if the country intends to curb political violence, honesty about the facts is essential.
On Sept. 15, Kimmel's remarks criticized the Republican response to Kirk's assassination, accusing the "MAGA gang" of trying to politicize it by portraying the shooter as "anything other than one of them" to score "political points." Kirk's alleged assassin, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, surrendered to police and was charged with aggravated murder, two counts of obstruction of justice, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, among others.
A family member of Robinson told investigators he had "become more political in recent years" and disliked Kirk's views, according to Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. "Clearly there was a lot of gaming going on — friends that have confirmed that there was kind of that deep, dark internet, the Reddit culture, and these other dark places of the internet where this person was going deep," Cox told NBC’s Meet the Press.
Kimmel’s first monologue since his return has drawn more than 21 million views on YouTube as of Thursday evening, and averaged 6.2 million viewers, according to The New York Times.
His show is still being preempted by Nexstar Media and Sinclair, which own ABC-affiliated television stations.
The episode reflects ongoing tensions in the current media landscape, where late-night satire intersects with high-stakes political discourse and concerns about violence and public safety.
