A Democratic House candidate posted a video on social media making fun of Charlie Kirk’s assassination comparing it to ABC’s brief suspension of comedian Jimmy Kimmel.
Shelby Campbell, 31, who is running to represent the heavily Democratic Michigan’s 13th district, appeared to gleefully celebrate Kirk’s death and Kimmel’s return to ABC in a TikTok video, sparking significant backlash.
“Hey, MAGA. How bad does it hurt that Jimmy Kimmel is back, but you guys can’t get your person back?” Campbell said in the video, followed by what appeared to be a long, joyful scream.
Campbell responded to criticism of her remarks writing in a Thursday X post, “Yes it’s me it’s called dark humor lol.”
She wrote in another X post on the same day, “Let me know if you want to go live and have a conversation to see how mentally unstable I am. Have a good day.”
The candidate’s pinned post on her X timeline states, “Good evening, My name is Shelby Campbell and I am running for the 13th congressional district here in Wayne County Michigan. I am a true grassroots candidate and cannot wait to advocate for the people! Contributions are greatly appreciated.” As of late Friday afternoon, the post had nine likes and 967 comments.
Kimmel was briefly taken off the air by ABC after stating during his monologue, “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.” Disney, ABC’s parent company, reinstated Kimmel’s late-night spot six days later.
“I guess since I’m a politician, I have to get back on ‘X’,” Campbell said in one TikTok video, showing her deleting her previous username “soupbitchbaddd.” “RIP to my identity as a young adult and teenager,” she added.
“I haven’t been on this app in a long time can I say @realDonaldTrump has a small pp for saying domestic violence isn’t a serious crime???” she wrote in another post.
“We recognize that political violence and the loss of life are serious matters, and we extend our condolences to anyone who has suffered a genuine loss,” Campbell said regarding her TikTok video, in a lengthy statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “However, the commentary was about politics, not personal tragedy, and it was primarily a statement on the hypocrisy and political double standards that exist in corporate media and established political circles.”
She added that the controversial video “used dark political satire to highlight a disturbing truth,” and went on to accuse the slain Kirk of “inflammatory rhetoric.”
“Corporate media figures like Jimmy Kimmel, who spread false information about the assassin and were subsequently taken off the air, face a temporary suspension, while those on the right who traffic in inflammatory rhetoric — like the late Charlie Kirk — have their influence permanently solidified in a way that fuels partisan grievance,” the candidate wrote in her statement to the DCNF. “The comment was meant to be a stark comparison of two different kinds of political cancellation.”
“Moreover, the late Mr. Kirk was one of the loudest proponents of absolute free speech in the country,” Campbell added. “It is an act of profound irony that critics are now attempting to silence or penalize speech — even satire — after his death.”
“My campaign is not about decorum,” she said later in her statement. “It is about challenging the powerful, speaking difficult truths, and
refusing to play by the rules set by political and corporate elites.”
The Democrat had called the Israeli people “trigger-happy” in a Sept. 9 post to X, saying that the US should stop delivering weapons to Israel.
Campbell’s campaign contribution website describes her as “a 31-year-old single mom, former assembly line worker, and proud third-generation UAW member.”
“I’ve served tables, raised my boys, and fought through broken systems built to leave people like us behind,” the website states. “Now, I’m running for Congress in Michigan’s 13th District to put working families, not corporate donors, at the center of our democracy. My campaign is about community over corporations, compassion over cruelty, and people over profit.”
The seat is currently held by Democrat Shri Thanedar, who won reelection in 2024 with about 68.6% of the vote. Thanedar first assumed office in 2023, after winning the 2022 race. Thanedar made headlines earlier this year during a failed bid to impeach President Donald Trump that was widely rejected by members of his own party.
Democratic Michigan State Rep. Donavan McKinney is also running for the seat. McKinney is campaigning on a hard-left platform with support from the Justice Democrats, a group known for helping elect members of the informal group of far-left House members known as the “Squad.” McKinney is endorsed by Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who represents a neighboring district.
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