“I don’t think there’s anything funny about it,” he said as he choked up.<\/p>\n
“Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what was obviously a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make”.<\/p>\n
Kimmel was accused of being “offensive and insensitive” after using his programme, Jimmy Kimmel Live, to accuse Donald Trump<\/a> and his allies of capitalising on the killing.<\/p>\n Speaking on Tuesday night’s show, Kimmel said he understood why the remarks “felt either ill-timed or unclear, or maybe both”.<\/p>\n 2:04<\/p>\n Kimmel returns – and not everyone’s on same page<\/p>\n ‘Not legal’ to take me off-air, says Kimmel<\/p>\n Appearing tearful again, Kimmel praised Kirk’s widow, Erika, for forgiving her husband’s killer<\/a> at his memorial service, calling it a “selfless act of grace … that touched me deeply”. In contrast, Mr Trump has said he disagreed, telling the service: “I hate my opponent and I don’t want the best for them.”<\/p>\n Kimmel went on to criticise the ABC affiliates who took his show off the air, saying: “That’s not legal. That’s not American. It’s un-American.”<\/p>\n He also thanked those who supported him, adding: “It takes courage for them to speak out against this administration. They did and they deserve credit for it.”<\/p>\n Disney announced the return of the show to its ABC network after backlash to his suspension<\/a>, although two major operators said they still wouldn’t show it.<\/p>\n Read more from Sky News: Image: Trump threatens further action<\/p>\n In a post on his Truth Social platform before it aired on Tuesday night, Mr Trump said he “can’t believe” ABC gave Kimmel his show back and hinted at further action.<\/p>\n “Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny, and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE,” he wrote.<\/p>\n “He is yet another arm of the DNC and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major illegal Campaign Contribution. I think we’re going to test ABC out on this.”<\/p>\n In his opening monologue, Kimmel mocked Mr Trump for criticising him for bad ratings, saying: “He tried his best to cancel me and instead he forced millions of people to watch this show.”<\/p>\n Mr Trump had welcomed Kimmel’s suspension, saying he had “bad ratings”, but the move was criticised by Hollywood stars and senior Democrats including Barack Obama.<\/p>\n What did Kimmel say about Charlie Kirk?<\/p>\n The comments that saw Kimmel taken off-air were made last week.<\/p>\n The TV presenter said: “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk<\/a> as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Speaking about Mr Trump, he added: “This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he calls a friend.<\/p>\n “This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.”<\/p>\n “Many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalise on the murder of Charlie Kirk,” he continued.<\/p>\n This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.<\/p>\n Please refresh the page for the fullest version.<\/p>\n You can receive Breaking News alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News App<\/a>. You can also follow @SkyNews on X<\/a> or subscribe to our YouTube channel<\/a> to keep up with the latest news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jimmy Kimmel has said it was “never my intention to make light of” Charlie Kirk’s death. The presenter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-40063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/skynews-jimmy-kimmel-us_7029998.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Trump backs Ukraine to retake all lost territory<\/a>
Man found guilty of trying to assassinate US president<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Jimmy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/skynews-jimmy-kimmel-charlie-kirk_7023697.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Jimmy Kimmel’s show returned after less than a week off-air. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n