PRESS RELEASE: What Jimmy Kimmel Said and Why It Matters

Posted

September 23, 2025

Written By

Audrey Clement

September 22, 2025.

I’m Audrey Clement, the Independent candidate for Arlington County Board on November 4.

Left and right are embroiled in a raging dispute over the firing of comedian Jimmy Kimmel by ABC for his off-color commentary on the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The right believes that Kimmel blasphemed Kirk, and the left believes that Kimmel’s remarks fall well within the bounds of acceptable speech on late night comedy. So which is it? Let’s take a look.

Kimmel said: “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.”

That’s it. The rest of Kimmel’s monologue was a sarcastic riposte on Trump’s supposed grieving Kirk’s death, while trumpeting a $200 million makeover of the White House ballroom. There was no disparagement of either Kirk or Turning Point USA in what Kimmel said and no libel of Trump, insofar Trump’s remarks on the ballroom have been recorded for posterity.

So what triggered Kimmel’s firing? Trump appointed FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s commentary on the Benny Show: “These companies can find ways . . . to take action on Kimmel or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

Within hours of Carr’s remarks, Kimmel was toast. This is troubling not only because of Carr’s call for FCC censorship, but because the right is guilty of the same thing it accuses the left.

Vice President Vance himself laid the Kirk assassination at the left’s feet, saying: “And importantly, we have to talk about this incredibly destructive movement of left-wing extremism that has grown up over the last few years and, I believe, is part of the reason why Charlie was killed by an assassin’s bullet.”

The truth, as always, lies in the middle. Tyler Robinson was registered as neither Republican nor Democrat. There is no evidence that he was either a leftist or a MAGA warrior. It’s conceivable that Robinson was a nascent libertarian. Libertarians share some core values with the left, such as open borders and relaxed social norms. But libertarians also share values with the right like limited gun control and free market capitalism.

Pigeon holing non-partisan political actors into right or left buckets serves a corrupt two-party system by framing politics exclusively as a contest between Democrats and Republicans, while shutting down debate on everything else.

We see this in Arlington County, where non-Democrats are routinely dissed by the voters, regardless of their qualifications for political office or their commitment to serve, simply because they aren’t on the Blue Ballot.

You can turn this retrograde situation around. By electing an Independent like me to County Board, you will have affirmed the need to bring more voices to the table of good government. 

 If elected, I also pledge to:

  • Seek immediate tax relief for residents and businesses.
  • Stop Missing Middle up-zoning.
  • Lobby the federal government to restore the federal workforce.
  • Reduce the office vacancy rate by inducing federal agencies to relocate here.
  • Preserve Arlington’s natural and cultural heritage. Stop clearcutting and teardowns for more infill development.

If you share my agenda, then:

  • Spread the word about my candidacy.
  • Volunteer or donate to my campaign.
  • Help make the “Arlington Way” more than an empty phrase.