Jimmy Kimmel was suspended from late night television after his comments about Charlie Kirk. ABC took action and removed Jimmy Kimmel Live! from air for a total of six days, which affected his whole family.
Kimmel, 57, and his wife, Molly McNearney, 47, share daughter Jane, 11, and son Billy, 8. On the Nov. 6 episode of the We Can Do Hard Things podcast, the couple discussed some aspects of the aftermath of the suspension.
“We go home, and our kids are there, and we realize they have no idea what’s going on,” McNearney, who is an executive producer on Kimmel’s show, said on the podcast. “And we had to do that thing that parents do so well, which is just immediately put on a mask. [We] asked them, ‘How was soccer today? What’s the funniest thing you heard at school today?’ We were just trying to make conversation with our children, but meanwhile, our phones are just [blowing up] the whole time in our pockets. And there’s helicopters over our house and madness outside.”
She went on to explain that their daughter Jane started hearing things at school and that’s when the couple decided to have a chat with their kids about what was going on. They said that Jane took the news very hard, bursting into tears and immediately offering to help.
“I’ll sell my Labubus,” she told her parents.
Meanwhile, Kimmel explained that his 11-year-old daughter is fairly certain she’ll be taking over for her dad someday, which could be why she was so upset.
“We’ve never said this to her, we don’t know where she got it. She has three other siblings, two of them are actually adults and more qualified to take over if it was indeed a family business. … She felt that she’d been somehow suspended. I’d ruined it for her,” Kimmel said.
Kimmel’s show was reinstated on Tuesday, Sept. 23. Kimmel addressed his audience and the viewers at home with an emotional monologue.
“It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man. I don’t think there’s anything funny about it,” Kimmel said. “I posted a message on Instagram on the day he was killed, sending love to his family and asking for compassion — and I meant it; I still do. Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what — it was obviously a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make. But I understand that to some, that felt either ill-timed or unclear, or maybe both. And for those who think I did point a finger, I get why you’re upset. If the situation was reversed, there’s a good chance I’d have felt the same way,” he added.
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