Jimmy Kimmel didn’t apologize — maybe Van Jones will

Op-ed views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author.

Disney-owned ABC late-night show host Jimmy Kimmel did not apologize for offending much of the nation when he returned to his show after a one-week suspension. So much for the left-wing narrative that President Donald Trump ripped up the First Amendment and tossed Kimmel off the air.

The controversy began the Monday after Charlie Kirk’s assassination by a Trump- and Kirk-hating left-winger. Kimmel, however, said, “The MAGA gang (is) 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.”

In Kimmel’s returning monologue, he was not just unapologetic, he was defiant. He flat-out denied any intention “to blame any specific group” for Kirk’s assassination. Kimmel said, “It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man.” He added, “Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions. It was a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make…”

Oh, so in truth, he was blaming Freddy Krueger. And shame on those who thought otherwise.

This means Kimmel and Kirk’s “kid” assassin have two things in common: Both are Trump-despising leftists, and both have been forgiven — the assassin by Erika Kirk at Charlie’s memorial, and Kimmel by Disney — without one iota of contrition.

This brings us to Van Jones, CNN political commentator. Several days after Kirk’s assassination, Jones wrote: “The day before he was horrifically murdered, Charlie Kirk sent me a direct message on X. He and I had been sparring publicly over the killing of a Ukrainian refugee and its relationship to race. He said the gruesome killing of a White woman by a Black man was motivated solely by anti-White hatred. I denounced those comments on CNN as unfounded. He went on TV and denounced MY denunciation. Then he unleashed a firehose of tweets, challenging my argument.”

But, plot twist, Jones said: “Then — in the middle of all this — Charlie Kirk reached out. He invited me to come on his show to talk with him. He wrote: ‘Hey, Van, I mean it, I’d love to have you on my show to have a respectful conversation about crime and race. I would be a gentleman, as I know you would be as well. We can disagree about the issues agreeably.’”

After this exchange and, apparently, several days of reflection, Jones magnanimously concluded, “So it was not hard for me to condemn his murder — immediately, without qualification and in unconditional terms.”

Please excuse those of us who are neither moved nor impressed by this “brave” acknowledgement of Kirk’s decency. Anyone fortunate enough to have had even a passing relationship with Kirk will tell you about his willingness to engage civilly with those he disagrees with. So, Jones deserves a cookie for stating the obvious?

As for Kirk’s analysis on the Ukrainian woman killed on the Charlotte train by a black man, Kirk said: “Based on the information and the evidence we have, the attacker did say, ‘I got that white girl.’ The attacker racialized it in his own telling of the situation… If a random white person on a subway took out a knife and stabbed a black girl senselessly to death, there would be massive media coverage.”

For this, the day before Kirk’s assassination, Jones accused him of “race-mongering and hate-mongering.”

Jones’ characterization of Kirk was merely the latest in Jones’ years-long record denouncing Trump, his voters, and the policies Jones disagrees with as racist. On election night in 2016, when CNN declared Trump the winner, Jones fired this cannon: “This was a white-lash against a changing country. It was a white-lash against a black president in part, and that’s the part where the pain comes.”

Thus, Jones helped spearhead the widely believed narrative that Trump only won because angry, paranoid, racist white voters elected him. No wonder polls going back several years show nearly 50% of Americans and over 80% of black Americans consider Trump “racist.”

Kimmel will not apologize. But maybe Jones will apologize for his role in maligning half the country as racists, fascists, white supremacists, Nazis, dictators, tyrants, Hitlers, and a threat to democracy.

Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an “Elderado,” visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on X @larryelder. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

Larry Elder is a best-selling author, radio and TV talk show host. To find out more about Larry Elder visit www.LarryElder.com.

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