September 26, 2025/Midnight
Erie, PA.— On Sept. 10, Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University. The conservative political commentator’s sudden death has left the country shocked and seemingly divided.
A memorial service honoring Kirk was held on Sept. 21, at the Arizona State Farm Stadium.
The New York Post reports that around 200,000 people attended the service, filling the stadium to capacity, and millions more watched online. Several public figures were in attendance, such as President Trump who made remarks about the media reaction to Kirk’s death. One of the most controversial media comments was made during the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show.
On Sept. 15, Jimmy Kimmel states during his show’s opening monologue, “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. In between the finger pointing, there was grieving.”
During the monologue, Kimmel commentated on President Trump’s response to Kirk’s death, criticizing Trump for apparent apathy and the president’s focus on the construction of a new White House ballroom. Kimmel said, “He’s at the fourth state of grief: construction.”
Kimmel also said in a Sept. 11 monologue, “Some people are cheering this [Kirk’s death], which is something I won’t ever understand.”
On Sept. 17, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was suspended indefinitely by ABC. A statement from ABC’s parent company Disney reads, “Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country. It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill–timed and thus insensitive.”
Less than a week later, it was announced that the show would return to air on Sept. 23.
The initial suspension of the show was widely criticized as an attack on free speech. Many pointed to comments made by the FCC chair, Brendan Carr, where he seemed to threaten an investigation against the show after Kimmel’s comments were made: “These companies can find ways to change conduct to take action on Kimmel or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is a government agency responsible for regulating the American media. While the FCC was not directly involved with the initial decision to suspend the late–night show, many have pointed at the correlation between the statement and the suspension of the show.
Former President Barack Obama commented on the matter, stating in a social media post that the Trump Administration is reaching a “…new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like…”.
Obama also commented on the assassination of Kirk during an event at the Jefferson Education Society, hosted at the Erie Insurance Arena. The former President stated, “What happened to Charlie Kirk is tragedy. What happened to the state legislators is tragedy. To be a democratic nation, you need passionate debate.” Shortly after, he mentioned the disagreements with some of Kirk’s statements and political beliefs.
Congress has proposed new legislative measures in response to Kirk’s assassination.The Economic Times reports that the Senate has voted to make Oct. 14, Kirk’s birthday, a National Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk. This measure has yet to pass through the House of Representatives, but if the House approves it, the day of remembrance will be observed annually and nationally.
Pam Bondi, the Attorney General, said in an interview, “We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech, anything — and that’s across the aisle.” This statement has been widely criticized by both sides of the political aisle.
In a 2024 social media post that contradicts Bondi’s statement, Kirk wrote, “Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech. And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment.”
Bondi later clarified in a social media post, “Hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment. It’s a crime.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson stated that while employers do have the right to fire employees for making certain unfavorable comments online, he also said, “In America, it’s a very important part of our tradition that — this is a conservative principle, and certainly an American principle — we do not censor and silence disfavored viewpoints.”
