‘Where’s The Joke?’: Scott Jennings Explains How Jimmy Kimmel Suspension Exposes Deeper Problems In Media

Republican strategist Scott Jennings said on CNN Thursday that the problem surrounding Jimmy Kimmel is a symptom of a much deeper structural problem in American media and isn’t just about Kimmel’s monologue on Charlie Kirk.

On Wednesday, Disney’s ABC — responding to Kimmel’s remarks about Kirk’s assassination — pulled Kimmel’s late-night show indefinitely. This, after Nexstar Media Group moved to preempt the program across its ABC-affiliated stations. Appearing on “The Lead,” Jennings said the suspension of Kimmel’s show highlights a deeper problem within the media — one where local affiliates like Nexstar and Sinclair don’t have the power to push back.

“Well, he [Brendan Carr] rejects that he’s doing anything new or that they’re actually taking any action. He firmly puts this on the affiliates and the owners of the affiliates, Nexstar and Sinclair, and he believes they should have the power to push back on these network programmers. That’s number one. And I did read his quote back to him,” Jennings said.

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“I also read the quote from Jimmy Kimmel. I said, ‘Is this what you found objectionable?’ And he said, ‘Where’s the joke? This wasn’t satire.’ He doesn’t believe Jimmy Kimmel was making a joke when he went on television, and I think lied about implying that this shooter was part of the MAGA movement.”

Jennings said many conservatives viewed Kimmel’s commentary about the recent shooting not as satire, but as a deliberate attempt to mislead the public. (RELATED: ‘Like A Son To Me’: Christian Speaker Gives Emotional Account Of What Happened In Car After Charlie Kirk Was Shot)

“You’re hearing that from a lot of conservatives today, frankly. They didn’t see Kimmel’s commentary as jokes or satire. They saw it as a willful attempt by someone on the left to mislead the American people about the motivations of the shooter in a case, obviously, that’s getting worldwide headlines,” Jennings said.

During his Monday night monologue, Kimmel accused the “MAGA gang” of reaching “new lows,” claiming Republicans tried to portray Kirk’s alleged assassin as “anything other than one of them.”

Before authorities arrested 22-year-old Tyler Robinson for the killing, officials revealed that bullet casings from the rifle used to shoot Kirk contained phrases like “Hey fascist! Catch!” and “If you read this you are gay LMAO.” One casing bore the phrase “bella ciao,” a reference to the World War II-era Italian anti-fascist anthem adopted by the left.

Police arrested Robinson on Friday. Some Democrats fueled speculation online that the shooter was a radical right-winger. At a press conference, Republican Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, however, said Robinson had been “deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology” and had increasingly viewed Kirk as someone “full of hate and spreading hate.”

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