Don’t cry for Jimmy Kimmel

The defenestration of the supposed talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, for the inflammatory remarks that he made during the monologue in his show on Monday night about Charlie Kirk, is both an unexpected and deeply predictable development. It was unexpected because Kimmel clearly believed that he was, like Lehman Brothers, “too big to fail,” and was therefore within his rights to make such comments as how “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” And it was deeply predictable because Kimmel now becomes the latest scalp that the right have seized this year, and perhaps the most high-profile yet. 

In truth, Kimmel – whose show Jimmy Kimmel Live! should now, perhaps, be renamed Jimmy Kimmel Dead! as it has been pulled, or “pre-empted,” from the ABC schedules “indefinitely,” which means that the chances of its returning are negligible – was a marked man. It is, of course, possible that he may return in some form on a streaming service such as Netflix, and whether such employers of his as the Academy Awards are sufficiently cowed to take him off their roster remains to be seen. Certainly, the left will see the firing as Kimmel as a political action, and President Trump’s open gloating that the decision was “great news for America” will embolden his opponents even further, perhaps turning Kimmel into a martyr for supposed free speech. 

If this does happen, they have picked the wrong person. In truth, Kimmel’s schtick wore thin a long time ago, and his continued presence hosting one of the nation’s late-night talk shows owed as much to a lack of imagination on the part of executives and producers as it did genuine talent. If there is a more irritating, drawn-out and smug running “joke” than his manufactured feud with Matt Damon – something that may have been briefly amusing for a couple of gags, but has now lasted, in some form, for twenty years (twenty years!) – then I would be horrified to hear about it, but the fake fracas sums Kimmel up perfectly: a bit that may or may not have been amusing for a short time, but was grotesquely overstretched far beyond any enjoyable or even bearable period. 

Jimmy Kimmel Live! should now, perhaps, be renamed Jimmy Kimmel Dead!

The talk show host has form. Many of the things that he should have been cancelled for on previous occasions, such as his donning blackface for a frankly racist impersonation of Snoop Dogg in 1996 and how he made some grimly sexist comments towards Megan Fox in 2009, were brushed under the carpet after Kimmel made the usual non-committal apologies of how “I believe that I have evolved and matured over the last 20-plus years,” even as he suggested that “I know that this will not be the last I hear of this and that it will be used again to try to quiet me.” He has always positioned himself less as a multi-millionaire interviewing celebrities and telling not-that-funny jokes on late-night television and more as a principled one-man source of opposition to Trump and MAGA. This may endear him to those on the left who will see his firing as an act of martyrdom, but for those on the right, or even of no political allegiance whatsoever, Kimmel’s attacks on the present administration will seem less like bravery and more like a childish urge to bear-bait. 

Well, the bear has bitten at last, and apart from the fully paid-up devotees of this persistent man, who will be up in arms at ABC’s decision, many will be quietly relieved that Kimmel has been put out to pasture. No more wearisome Matt Damon “jokes”; no more MAGA insults. For any American who believes in dignity in retirement, let us hope that Kimmel enjoys a long and peaceful one, unburdened by the need to share his thoughts and feelings with the world again.