Jimmy Kimmel's Political Hackery

He isn't just a comedian

One of the many problems with the legacy press is its consistent implication — hell, often outright insistence — that criticism from conservatives is not legitimate.

Friday’s piece from the New York Times mis/disinformation reporter Stuart Thompson is yet another example.

Another way to put it: The outrage isn’t legitimate because critics had to have been unduly influenced.

Thompson starts by saying the conservative outrage turned “apoplectic” Wednesday after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr “went on a podcast and suggested the regulatory body could use its powers against the network that airs the show.” Fair enough. Now, cue the foreboding music to play underneath the following:

But the outrage had started to grow online more than 24 hours earlier — first as a whisper, then eventually as a shout, as social media users, influencers and right-wing news outlets began sharing Mr. Kimmel’s monologue, according to an analysis by The New York Times of thousands of posts on social media and mentions on radio, television and podcasts.

It began with a muted reaction on X on Tuesday morning after one user, whose job involves monitoring late night shows for liberal bias, posted a clip of the monologue. Conservative influencers and radio hosts started to take notice throughout the day, and Fox News hosts turned their attention to the clip by the evening. [Music turns even darker]

Then, hours before Mr. Carr’s podcast taping on Wednesday, Elon Musk, the most-followed user on X and the site’s owner, posted that Mr. Kimmel was “disgusting” for the jokes.

The accelerating furor reflects how online outrage does not always emerge organically, but is often the result of a small number of prominent voices redirecting their audience’s attention.

Please, as if this is new. The difference today is the “influence” isn’t only coming from the traditional press. There are multiple reasons for that — social media and the easy access to video, for one. Another big reason is the media’s own suckery, as demonstrated by this hilarious video in which CNN’s Wolf Blitzer maintains that Kimmel didn’t say what he said Monday night and is held in check by, of all people, Geraldo.

There are legitimate questions and concerns about the role of the FCC and the Trump administration’s influence in Disney’s decision to put Kimmel on hiatus. This isn’t about that, and there is already plenty of coverage and appropriate scrutiny of that decision.

But what’s not being addressed enough is whether conservative outrage over Kimmel’s monologue is understandable. Unequivically, the answer is yes — but it’s not just about what he said Monday: 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.”

It’s about what Kimmel has been saying and doing for years. He is a tool of the Democratic Party. He doesn’t just use his show to push his politics, but tells people outright how they should vote. This 19-minute video from last October, titled “A Special Monologue for the Republican in Your Life,” is the height of obnoxiousness. He asks people to show the video to their Republican friends or relatives in an effort to convince them not to vote for Trump. To quote the retired football player formerly known as Chad Ochocinco, “Child, please.”

Then there are other bits, “joking” that people who don’t have the Covid vaccine shouldn’t get treated for a heart attack, implying that people should continue vandalizing Teslas, his ass-kissing of Democratic office holders on his show and letting people know they have his endorsement. He even helped what was then the Biden-Harris campaign in 2024 raise $30 million in one night by moderating a discussion with Biden and former President Barack Obama. These and other examples are in the video at the top of this post, which was also included in “America This Week.”

He has the right to do all this, of course (although Walter Kirn makes a compelling argument on ATW that he has violated the terms of an FCC license to broadcast on the public’s airwaves). My point is, the conservative public isn’t just pushing back against a simple comedian. They are pushing back against a partisan who has continually put them down. That’s politics, a game that Kimmel has willingly played.