
Turning Point USA (TPUSA) CEO Erika Kirk publicly addressed comments from ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel about the assassination of her husband and TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk for the first time during an interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters set to air Wednesday.
ABC suspended Kimmel on Sept. 17 after broadcast station ownership groups Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcasting, who own over 50 ABC affiliates, announced they would not air âJimmy Kimmel Liveâ in the wake of his comments on the assassination.
âWe hit 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,â Kimmel said on the Sept. 15 episode.
Erika Kirk told Watters that Sinclair Broadcasting reached out to her asking if there could be any remedy for Kimmelâs comments.
WATCH:
âJimmy Kimmel lied about your husbandâs murder and didnât really apologize,â Watters said in the advanced excerpt from the interview released by Fox News. âWhat would you say to Jimmy Kimmel?â
âSame thing I told Sinclair. They asked, I havenât really told anybody this, so they asked, âDo you want Jimmy to give you an apology? Do you want to be on a show? How can we make it right?ââ Erika Kirk responded. âThrough our team, I responded, I said, âTell them thank you, we received their note. This is not our issue, not our mess. If you want to say Iâm sorry to someone whoâs grieving, go right ahead. But if thatâs not in your heart, donât do it. I donât want it. I donât need it.ââ
Erika Kirk did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Kimmelâs suspension came after multiple people, including MSNBC political analyst Matthew Dowd and Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah, were fired over comments that celebrated, mocked or justified Kirkâs assassination in various social media venues online, especially on platforms like BlueSky.
Kimmel returned to the air Sept. 23, but did not apologize for the comments, instead claiming that he wasnât trying to âmake lightâ of Kirkâs assassination.
âI want to make something clear, because itâs important to me as a human, and that is â you understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man,â Kimmel claimed. âI donât â I donât think thereâs anything funny about it.â
Both Nexstar and Sinclair resumed airing âJimmy Kimmel Live,â although Sinclair had indicated it would insist on an apology in a statement issued when it initially removed Kimmel from the air.
âSinclair will not lift the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on our stations until formal discussions are held with ABC regarding the networkâs commitment to professionalism and accountability,â the statement read. âSinclair also upon Mr. Kimmel to issue a direct apology to the Kirk family. Furthermore, Sinclair asks Mr. Kimmel to make a meaningful personal donation to the Kirk Family and Turning Point USA.â
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