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Jimmy Kimmel strutted back onto the ABC stage last week and, instead of a straightforward apology, gave a performance in which he cast himself as the aggrieved party while lecturing the country about free speech. His emotional monologue played well to his studio crowd and to sympathetic outlets, but millions of Americans who watched his initial remarks about Charlie Kirk saw something very different: a comedian who dodged responsibility and doubled down on theatrics.
The network briefly suspended Kimmel after his remarks about the assassination of Charlie Kirk sparked national outrage and pressure from station owners who refused to air his program. Giant affiliate groups like Nexstar and Sinclair pulled the show off their stations until they were satisfied with ABC’s response, leaving viewers in major markets without the late-night program and forcing a public reckoning over broadcast standards.
Rather than make a clear apology to Kirk’s family and to viewers, Kimmel used his return to pivot to a lecture about censorship and government overreach, portraying himself as the victim of political interference. That posture is familiar — when celebrities get caught, they often weaponize the language of rights and freedoms to avoid personal accountability — and Americans deserve better than moral grandstanding from a man paid by a national broadcaster.
Meanwhile, the ratings bump from the controversy is being waved around as proof that his tactics “worked,” but popularity does not substitute for contrition or common decency. Millions tuning in after the suspension doesn’t erase the fact that Kimmel’s original comments were tone-deaf in a moment of national mourning, and viewers should not be gaslit into accepting performative remorse as an adequate response.
Station owners understandably demanded that Kimmel apologize and make amends, even suggesting donations to organizations connected to the victim as a first step toward restitution. That is not censorship; it is accountability, and local broadcasters have every right to decide what is suitable for their audiences instead of being lectured by coastal elites who think outrage is a promotional strategy.
Patriots who believe in free speech should recognize the difference between defending the right to speak and excusing the refusal to take responsibility for what you say. If media figures want to lecture the country about liberty, they ought to start by practicing honesty, offering real apologies when warranted, and respecting the families caught in these tragedies instead of turning themselves into martyrs for clout.
