Former CNN anchor and self-appointed guardian of the truth Jim Acosta unleashed several bits of fake news in the early moments of his Thursday podcast as he reacted to ABC’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel. Most notably, Acosta claimed that all Kimmel did was call out MAGA for politicizing Charlie Kirk’s murder.
Acosta wasted no time in getting to his hysterical rewriting of history:
Welcome to The Jim Acosta Show, and it's another day that ends in Y and Donald Trump's assault on American democracy. We have entered a new era of snowflake fascism, ladies and gentlemen, in the U.S., where the snowflakes on the far-right whine and complain every time somebody hurts their feelings. The weak-kneed corporate executives who only know how to smooch Trump's butt simply go along with the dear leader's demands. The latest example, the canceling of Jimmy Kimmel's late night TV show, all Kimmel did was call out MAGA for attempting to capitalize on the death of Charlie Kirk, which of course they did.
First of all, as of now, Kimmel has only been suspended. Second of all, it is not true that “all Kimmel did was call out MAGA.”
We know this because Acosta later played the clip, but not before adding, “Let's at least play what Jimmy Kimmel said and talk about it on the other side because I think this has been twisted around by the far-right and then just ABC and the stations responded to it.”
In the clip, Kimmel was shown declaring, “New lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang 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.”
Talking with MSNBC host Ali Velshi, Acosta reacted, “Yeah, now, I mean, Ali, I don't know what your take is on it. I said this last week: that there was a rush on the part of people in MAGA to basically pigeonhole the murderer as somebody who was trans or from the left, and so on. I mean, it was before the facts even came in. I think that's what Kimmel was saying there. And then, I mean, we should also note on social media, he was saying that this is wrong, what happened to Charlie Kirk.”
If all Kimmel did was accuse MAGA of politicizing Kirk’s murder, that would’ve been bad, but it would not have generated the outrage that his comments ultimately did. Acosta wants to shame conservatives for trying to paint the shooter as a lefty “before the facts even came in,” even though it was pretty clear from his family and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox that is where the evidence was leading. All the while, people, including historian Heather Cox Richardson, whom Acosta had on his show less than a month ago, were claiming the shooter was a MAGA type. Whether Kimmel actually embraced this conspiracy theory or just lied by omission by refusing to give his audience this context, which Acosta is now also doing, is not particularly relevant because either one should be a fireable offense.
Here is a transcript for the June 18 show:
The Jim Acosta Show
9/18/2025
JIM ACOSTA: Welcome to The Jim Acosta Show, and it's another day that ends in Y and Donald Trump's assault on American democracy. We have entered a new era of snowflake fascism, ladies and gentlemen, in the U.S., where the snowflakes on the far-right whine and complain every time somebody hurts their feelings. The weak-kneed corporate executives who only know how to smooch Trump's butt simply go along with the dear leader's demands. The latest example, the canceling of Jimmy Kimmel's late night TV show, all Kimmel did was call out MAGA for attempting to capitalize on the death of Charlie Kirk, which of course they did.
…
I want to get to Carr in a moment, but let's at least play what Jimmy Kimmel said and talk about it on the other side because I think this has been twisted around by the far-right and then just ABC and the stations responded to it.
ALI VELSHI: Yeah.
JIMMY KIMMEL: New lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang 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.
ACOSTA: Yeah, now, I mean, Ali, I don't know what your take is on it. I said this last week: that there was a rush on the part of people in MAGA to basically pigeonhole the murderer as somebody who was trans or from the left, and so on. I mean, it was before the facts even came in. I think that's what Kimmel was saying there. And then, I mean, we should also note on social media, he was saying that this is wrong, what happened to Charlie Kirk.
