Jimmy Kimmel has criticized President Donald Trump for saying Democrats were responsible for the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

In a Sept. 11 episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" the TV show host condemned people who celebrated the killing of Kirk, who died at a Utah college speaking event on Sept. 10 in what Gov. Spencer Cox called a "political assassination."

Kimmel started his show by stating he has seen "extraordinarily vile responses from both sides of the political spectrum" and recounted the Sept. 10 shooting at a Colorado high school, where a male student shot and injured two of his peers before dying from self-inflicted injuries.

"With all these terrible things happening you would think that our president would at least make an attempt to bring us together but he didn't," he said during his opening monologue.

He then mentioned statements issued by former presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton regarding Kirk's death adding that they tried to bring Americans together after tragedy.

"President Trump did not. Instead he blamed Democrats for their rhetoric," Kimmel said.

On Sept. 11, Trump announced he would posthumorously award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the conservative activist who he has referred to as "martyr for truth and freedom." In video-taped remarks released on Sept. 10 following Kirk's death, he said the "radical left" were "directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in our country today."

Kimmel did not mention Kirk's death on the show's Sept. 10 episode, which also opened with a monologue about Trump, but offered condolences to his family on Instagram earlier in the day.

"Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human?" he wrote. "On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence."

"The Late Show" host Stephen Colbert also shared condolences to Kirk's family at the start of his Sept. 10 episode and condemed the rise of political violence in the nation.

"I'm old enough to personally remember the political violence of the 1960s, and I hope it is obvious to everyone in America that political violence does not solve any of our political differences. Political violence only leads to more political violence," Colbert said. "I pray with all my heart that this is the aberrant action of a madman and not a sign of things to come."

Contributing: Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jimmy Kimmel condemns Trump's response after Charlie Kirk shooting

Reporting by Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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