Jimmy Kimmel marked the one-year anniversary of his suspension over comments about the killing of Charlie Kirk with a sharply anti-Trump monologue on Tuesday.
The 13-minute segment focused largely on President Donald Trump’s decision to bar several media organizations from the White House.
About six minutes into the monologue, Kimmel revisited his four-day suspension last year, saying he had been “bullied” off the air.
“That was a year ago. Never did I imagine that 12 months later, Trump would do the same thing to himself,” the host said.
Kimmel argued that the White House media ban was also limiting Trump’s own exposure.
“He has no cameras following him around anymore. There are no microphones to record what he’s saying,” Kimmel added.
Viral footage showed Trump speaking at a Monday ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new helipad on the South Lawn, but no press pool was present to capture the audio.
Earlier that day, major television networks declined to replace CNN’s press pool crew after Trump singled out CNN, MS NOW and Politico in the ban.
Jimmy Kimmel marked the approaching one-year anniversary of his suspension over comments about Charlie Kirk’s killing by comparing it with Donald Trump’s White House media ban targeting CNN, MS NOW and Politico
Kimmel had highlighted the networks’ show of solidarity during Monday’s broadcast and returned to it Tuesday, telling viewers it “has to drive Trump even crazier than he already is.”
“There’s nothing this man loves more than being on television,” Kimmel declared.
“And now, thanks to his own dumb actions, the only camera at the White House is the Ring camera Melania had mounted on her bedroom door to keep him out of it.”
The audience responded with laughter to the joke about the President’s marriage.
“If only they’d done this nine years ago, we might not be in this situation,” Kimmel quipped, referring to the 2016 election.
He insisted there was “no defense” for Trump’s decision, arguing only that the President “doesn’t like what [the networks] have to say.”
“But that doesn’t mean his little gang of rascals won’t try to come up with one,” Kimmel said before playing a clip of Vice President JD Vance discussing the move in a Monday interview with Newsmax. Vance characterized it as a “refusal to grant special access to people who are engaged in dishonest reporting,” rather than a ban.
“It is not a ban,” Vance told anchor Greg Kelly.
Viral footage from Monday showed Trump speaking at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new helipad on the South Lawn without reporters present to capture the audio
Kimmel’s segment also featured footage of Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders telling reporters in the Oval Office on Friday, “that it’s hard for you to argue against a free press when you’re literally standing in the Oval Office asking questions.”
The program also aired additional clips of conservative commentators defending Trump’s media restrictions.
Kimmel went on to sarcastically compliment the administration for their ability ‘to adapt and fill the gap as far as coverage goes.’
He pointed to the White House’s newly launched 24-hour YouTube livestream and its name, Trump TV.
‘For real,’ the host said, billing the stream as ‘state-run media.’
Kimmel took a shot at the feed for low viewership, after months of jabs from the President about his ratings.
‘The stream was spotty and weak, just like the President’s,’ Kimmel quipped.
‘And of course, like any great champion of the First Amendment, comments are turned off on Trump TV.’
Kimmel panned the president for his ‘ratings’ as well, after the White House launched a 24/7 YouTube stream over the weekend, after NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox all refused to replace journalists affected by the ban
Kimmel was suspended on September 17, 2025, after asserting two nights before that members of ‘MAGA’ were attempting to portray the suspect in Kirk’s assassination ‘as anything other than one of them.’
At the time, 22-year-old suspect Tyler Robinson, of Utah, had just been charged with capital murder.
Kimmel was reprimanded two days later by Federal Communications Commission boss Brendan Carr, and later that day Disney made the decision to suspend the show. Kimmel returned to air on September 23.
A statement from Disney explained the rationale behind the suspension at the time.
Kimmel was nearly cancelled for a comment surrounding the killing of Charlie Kirk, who was 31 when he was assassinated. He is survived by his wife Erika, with whom he had a four-year-old daughter and son seen here
‘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.
‘We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.’
