Jimmy Kimmel, in first monologue since show was taken off air, says "it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man"
Jimmy Kimmel returned to his long-running late-night show Tuesday, less than a week after network broadcaster ABC pulled "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" over remarks he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. "It's been overwhelming...I've heard from all the people in the world over the last six days," Kimmel joked to open his monologue, going on to thank all those who came out in his defense, including conservatives. "Most of all, I want to thank the people who don't support my show and what I believe, but support my right to share those beliefs anyway," Kimmel said."I never would have imagined that Ben Shapiro, Clay Travis, Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul, even my old pal Ted Cruz, who believe it or not said something very beautiful on my behalf.
It takes courage for them to speak out against this administration.They did and they deserve credit for it."The Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, had announced Monday that Kimmel would return to the air. It followed a political and media firestorm that began after the comedian addressed Kirk's slaying in a Sept.
15 monologue, saying: "We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang 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." An emotional Kimmel on Tuesday said that "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.I don't think there's anything funny about it," noting that he had taken to social media following Kirk's killing to send his condolences to Kirk's family. Kimmel didn't issue a blanket apology for his monologue remarks last week, but said he understood how it was offensive to some. "Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what was obviously a deeply disturbed individual," Kimmel said of the suspected gunman.
"That was really the opposite of th...