Actor and comedian Ike Barinholtz became this year's second summer guest host of ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday and the second to try to claim they are following in Kimmel’s footsteps by becoming a free speech martyr. What made Barinholtz’s claim extra dumb is that he tried to do so preemptively as he attacked Sen. Mitch McConnell after his hospitalization as a health care hypocrite and Sen. Lindsey Graham after his unexpected death by joking with sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez that they had nothing nice to say about him.
In Barinholtz’s world, if you do not agree with him about the economics of health insurance, you do not want people to have health care at all, “In all seriousness, though, I do want to extend well wishes to Senator McConnell. I hope you get the quality health care you've fought so hard to deny everyone else, so thank you. Pulling for you, Mitch.”
Jimmy Kimmel Live! guest host Ike Barinholtz appears to preemptively make himself a free speech martyr for going after Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham, "In all seriousness, though, I do want to extend well wishes to Senator McConnell. I hope you get the quality healthcare… pic.twitter.com/ZMn46pZNcf
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 14, 2026
Barinholtz then started to change topics to Graham’s death, but first he had to do some preemptive self-pity, “What a weekend. What a crazy weekend. Mitch McConnell is alive. Lindsey Graham is dead. There’s so many opportunities to get Jimmy's show pulled off the air again. They’re gonna to pull it off!”
Only if you make the deliberate choice to be a jerk about it, which is what Barinholtz and Rodriguez decided to do when they joked that they had nothing nice to say about Graham. Barinholtz began, “As I'm sure you've heard, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina passed away suddenly on Saturday at the age of 71. Guillermo, I know you and him were close friends. You hosted fundraisers for him at the Dave & Busters in Charleston. And I know you've prepared some heartfelt remarks. Do you want to share them with all of America right now?”
Rodriguez sarcastically responded with, “Maybe later on. Maybe later on. I'll do it later on, yeah, yeah," as Barinholtz explained, “Later on. He's emotional, folks. He’s emotional.”
For liberals, Jimmy Kimmel is a free speech hero for getting himself suspended. The actual details of what he said don’t matter to them. Kimmel’s guest hosts are now trying to get in on the hero status by trying to force free speech narratives into existence. In Barinholtz’s case, he is being cruel for the sake of getting a reaction to bolster his liberal street cred, and that says more about him than it does McConnell, Graham, or any of Kimmel’s critics.
Here is a transcript for the July 13 show:
ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live!
7/13/2026
11:38 PM ET
IKE BARINHOLTZ: In all seriousness, though, I do want to extend well wishes to Senator McConnell. I hope you get the quality health care you've fought so hard to deny everyone else, so thank you. Pulling for you, Mitch.
What a weekend. What a crazy weekend. Mitch McConnell is alive. Lindsey Graham is dead. There’s so many opportunities to get Jimmy's show pulled off the air again. They’re gonna to pull it off!
As I'm sure you've heard, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina passed away suddenly on Saturday at the age of 71. Guillermo, I know you and him were close friends. You hosted fundraisers for him at the Dave & Busters in Charleston. And I know you've prepared some heartfelt remarks. Do you want to share them with all of America right now?
GUILLERMO RODRIGUEZ: Maybe later on. Maybe later on.
BARINHOLTZ: Later on.
RODRIGUEZ: I'll do it later on, yeah, yeah.
BARINHOLTZ: Later on. He's emotional, folks. He’s emotional.
