‘He Wasn’t Making Jokes To Laugh At President Trump’: Brandon Gill Explains Jimmy Kimmel’s ‘Core Problem’

Texas Republican Rep. Brandon Gill said Thursday on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” that late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s “core problem” was making jokes about “somebody who was assassinated.”

Disney’s ABC announced it would indefinitely pull “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air, shortly after Nexstar Media Group, one of the nation’s largest TV station owners, decided to preempt the show. Democrats have pushed back against the move. “Ingraham Angle” guest host Brian Kilmeade asked Gill if Democrats’ concerns about free speech were the “number one issue in America.” (RELATED: ‘Where’s The Joke?’: Scott Jennings Explains How Jimmy Kimmel Suspension Exposes Deeper Problems In Media)

“You know, this is something that Republicans are talking about, and you know the problem is that he wasn’t making jokes to laugh at President Trump. He was making jokes to laugh at somebody who was assassinated, and that’s his core problem,” Gill said. “We hear a lot of calls for unity right now, that we should all come together and condemn political violence, and we certainly should, and we should be able to, but this is a problem on the political left.”

WATCH:

“Polling shows over and over again that more people on the political left believe that political violence can be justified at some times,” Gill added. “About 25% of people, in fact, who are identified as very liberal, believe that political violence can sometimes be justified. That number is 3% for very conservatives, 3% is too many, but 25% represents a systemic problem on the left that they need to be dealing with, and they’re not dealing with it by laughing at Charlie Kirk’s assassination.”

On Wednesday evening, Nexstar Media Group released a statement saying they would indefinitely pull Kimmel’s show from its owned and partner ABC-affiliated stations, which came after his comments about Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Nexstar Broadcasting Division President Andrew Alford called Kimmel’s remarks “offensive and insensitive” and said the decision was made to “let cooler heads prevail.”

Soon after, an ABC spokesman told CNBC the show would be “pre-empted indefinitely” from the network.

In response, Democrats, including California Rep. Eric Swalwell and former President Barack Obama, accused Republicans and Trump’s administration of taking “cancel culture” to a “new and dangerous level.”

The decision from the network came after Kimmel claimed that the “MAGA gang” had hit “new lows,” as he said Republicans had attempted to characterize Kirk’s alleged assassin as “anything other than one of them” during his Monday evening monologue.

By Tuesday, the late-night host doubled down against Vice President J.D. Vance, who called out violence from the far-left. Kimmel said “many in MAGA-land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk.”

Prior to the arrest of Kirk’s alleged assassin, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, officials said bullet casings from the rifle used to kill Kirk contained a series of phrases such as “Hey fascist! Catch!” and “If you read this you are gay LMAO.” A third bullet casing also had the engraving of  “bella ciao,” which matches an Italian song name that became a left-wing anthem during World War II.

Amid online speculation from Democrats that Robinson might have been a radical right-winger, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson was officially arrested last week in connection to the assassination. At a press conference, Republican Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said Robinson “was deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology” and had increasingly become political, viewing Kirk as “full of hate and spreading hate.”

According to a recent Napolitan News Service poll, data shows 26% of those aged 18 to 34 believe America is “better off now that Charlie Kirk has been killed,” despite saying “it is always difficult to wish ill of another human being.” Among Democrats, 24% agreed with the sentiment.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.