Jimmy Kimmel Says He Didn’t Think Charlie Kirk Comments Were a ‘Big Problem’

Jimmy Kimmel is reflecting on his comments about the response from “the MAGA gang” and President Donald Trump in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

The late-night host, 57, spoke about the controversy during a Bloomberg Screentime event in Los Angeles, three weeks after his controversial monologue comments that led to Disney’s ABC suspending Jimmy Kimmel Live! temporarily.

In his conversation with moderator Lucas Shaw on Wednesday, Oct. 8, Kimmel admitted he “didn’t think there was a big problem” with what he said in his Sept. 15 monologue about how he perceived some of response to Kirk’s death — in fact, he continued, “I just saw it as distortion on the part of some of the right-wing media networks, and I aimed to correct it.”

“I think when they pulled the show off the air. I thought, ‘Well, that’s unusual,’ ” Kimmel added, of the moment he realized there was an issue.

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Kirk, a 31-year-old right-wing political commentator, was shot and killed while speaking at a campus event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. Tyler Robinson, 22, has been charged with aggravated murder in connection with Kirk’s death.

“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,” Kimmel began his Sept. 15 monologue. “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”

“On Friday, the White House flew the flags at half staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level, you can see how hard the president is taking this,” he continued of Trump, 79, before rolling clips of the president pivoting conversation away from Kirk so he could brag about his new White House ballroom.

In a statement to PEOPLE on Sept. 17, Nexstar said that its “owned and partner television stations affiliated with the ABC Television Network” would “preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the foreseeable future, beginning with tonight’s show.”

Five days later, the Walt Disney Company issued a statement confirming that the show would return on Sept. 23. Read a statement from the company at the time, “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,” the statement concluded.

Kimmel alleged to Shaw on Wednesday that his initial comments were “intentionally and I think maliciously mischaracterized.”

But when asked about his communications with Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger and Disney Entertainment co-chairman Dana Walden following his suspension, the host said they were “really good conversations,” adding, “These are people that I’ve known for a long time and who I like very much, and we all wanted this to work out best.”

Kimmel said that specifically, his many conversations with Walden, 60, over that weekend following his suspension “helped me think everything through,” and “just understand where everyone was coming from” in regards to the backlash.

“I can sometimes be reactionary, I can sometimes be aggressive, and I can sometimes be unpleasant, and I think that really having those days to think about it was helpful,” he added.