Before ABC announced it was lifting Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension on Monday, HBO’s John Oliver used Sunday’s Last Week Tonight to express not only his confusion about why people got so mad at Kimmel in the first place but also to claim Kimmel’s point about MAGA being “desperate to weaponize Kirk’s death” has “aged pretty well” given the suspension.
Unlike some people on the left, Oliver actually got the root cause for Kimmel’s suspension correct, “But the pretext that’s been used to indefinitely suspend Kimmel’s show is just laughably weak. Because while you may have seen headlines saying he got in trouble for remarks about Charlie Kirk himself, or even remarks about his death, that's not strictly accurate. The comments that got him in trouble weren't about Kirk. In fact, Kimmel's first comments after his murder were a post reading, ‘Can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human? On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents, and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.’”
Oliver then teed up a clip of Kimmel’s remarks by adding, “What got Kimmel in trouble was a passing reference on Monday night. Now, at the time, there were still rumors flying around regarding the killer's motivations, including that he was on the far-right, something Kimmel alluded to like this.”
In the clip, Kimmel was shown declaring, “We hit some 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.”
What Oliver calls “rumors” were actually just conspiracy theories. It was clear from reports on what the family had told investigators and interviews by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox that the shooter was on the left. The only “evidence” to support the right-winger thesis was that the family was MAGA, as if 22-year olds always agree with their conservative parents on politics.
As it was, Oliver didn’t see what the big deal was either then or now, “Yeah. That was it. Weirdly, I was actually a guest on his show that night, and I didn't even register that comment, and that's only partly because I wasn't really paying attention.”
Oliver then broke out his Dutch accent as he tried to suggest that the YouTube comments section proves his point:
And I'm not alone. After Kimmel's suspension, many struggled to pick the offensive line out of his monologue, as YouTube is filled with comments under the video like, 'I am still waiting for the offensive part?' 'What did he say that got him fired? I'm re-watching the last week of episodes and haven't heard it yet,' and one viewer from the Netherlands saying, ‘It is even in the Dutch news. With a link to this. I watch this almost everyday for a year now to stay covered for America news with a humoristic flow.’
Before moving onto FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s role in the story, Oliver concluded, “The point is, Kimmel didn't denigrate Charlie Kirk or make light of his killing. The worst thing you could say is that he appears to have been wrong about the shooter's ideology, which—okay! But he was also pointing out that many on the right seemed desperate to weaponize Kirk's death, an argument that's aged pretty well, given, y'know, everything that's happened to Kimmel since.”
No, if anyone is weaponizing Kirk’s death, it is the people who are trying to say the assassin was right-wing despite there being exactly zero evidence for this. The fact that Kimmel made that Bluesky post that Oliver quoted above somehow manages to make Kimmel’s remarks even worse because he should have known better.
Here is a transcript for the September 21 show:
HBO Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
9/21/2025
11:15 PM ET
JOHN OLIVER: But the pretext that’s been used to indefinitely suspend Kimmel’s show is just laughably weak. Because while you may have seen headlines saying he got in trouble for remarks about Charlie Kirk himself, or even remarks about his death, that's not strictly accurate. The comments that got him in trouble weren't about Kirk. In fact, Kimmel's first comments after his murder were a post reading, "Can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human? On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents, and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence."
What got Kimmel in trouble was a passing reference on Monday night. Now, at the time, there were still rumors flying around regarding the killer's motivations, including that he was on the far-right, something Kimmel alluded to like this.
JIMMY KIMMEL: We hit some 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.
OLIVER: Yeah. That was it. Weirdly, I was actually a guest on his show that night, and I didn't even register that comment, and that's only partly because I wasn't really paying attention. And I'm not alone. After Kimmel's suspension, many struggled to pick the offensive line out of his monologue, as YouTube is filled with comments under the video like, "I am still waiting for the offensive part?" "What did he say that got him fired? I'm re-watching the last week of episodes and haven't heard it yet," and one viewer from the Netherlands saying [Dutch accent] "It is even in the Dutch news. With a link to this. I watch this almost everyday for a year now to stay covered for America news with a humoristic flow."
The point is, Kimmel didn't denigrate Charlie Kirk or make light of his killing. The worst thing you could say is that he appears to have been wrong about the shooter's ideology, which—okay! But he was also pointing out that many on the right seemed desperate to weaponize Kirk's death, an argument that's aged pretty well, given, y'know, everything that's happened to Kimmel since.
