Kimmel had no intention of apologizing either for joking about Kirk’s death or for saying that he was murdered by a right-wing assassin’s bullet.
After ABC took Jimmy Kimmel off the air "indefinitely" following his insensitive and false comments on the assassination of conservative thought leader Charlie Kirk, it was revealed that Kimmel's plan to address the "social-media sh*tstorm" that followed was essentially to double down on what he'd said.
A source within the show spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, telling the outlet that Kimmel's plan was "defending what he said [as] being grossly mischaracterized by a certain group of people." Kimmel had no intention of apologizing either for joking about Kirk's death or for saying that he was murdered by a right-wing assassin's bullet.
On Monday, Kimmel had said that the "MAGA gang" was "desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it."
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Following that, dozens of affiliate stations across the US had told ABC that they would not be airing Kimmel's show going forward. The suspension was a "last resort" for heads Bob Iger and Dana Walden and when Walden delivered the news to Kimmel, she did not ask him to apologize.
Execs had wanted Kimmel to "take down the temperature" when he addressed the controversy on Wednesday night, but the source told the outlet that Kimmel's plan was "going to fan the flames with the MAGA fan base." Disney employees, THR reports, "saw their emails doxxed."
The source further said that the future of the show, while in question, may still find a way back on air. Much of that depends on if the affiliate stations are interested in resuming broadcasts od the nightly late night show. ABC will run a memorial for Kirk on Friday instead of Kimmel.
Disney ABC execs spoke with Kimmel on Wednesday while the studio audience was already lining up outside waiting to get in. THR states that the talks "hit enough of a stalemate that executives there decided Wednesday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! had run out of time to be salvaged."
Former President Barack Obama complained about ABC pulling Kimmel's show, saying that it was Trump's fault. "After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like," Obama said.
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