Kimmel v Maga: what did host say?
The Guardian
|September 19, 2025
When announcing it would pull Jimmy Kimmel’s programme, the TV station operator Nexstar called comments the comedian had made about the far-right activist Charlie Kirk’s death “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse”.
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Supporters of Donald Trump have praised the decision, and the White House deputy chief of staff called it an example of “consequence culture”. However, anti-Trump politicians as well as media figures and free speech organisations have warned it is part of an effort to systematically silence Trump’s critics.
But what did Kimmel say to raise the ire of the Maga movement?
Maga was attempting to score political points from the killing
During one of his evening monologues - which was released before Utah prosecutors released more information about the alleged killer, Tyler Robinson - Kimmel suggested Trump’s political movement wanted to exploit the situation.
“The Maga gang [is] desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” he said.
This story is from the September 19, 2025 edition of The Guardian.
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