The red-hot battle between late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel and MAGA World over the comic’s comments about the political affiliation of the suspected assassin of Charlie Kirk reached a sort of detente by Wednesday morning. Kimmel returned to the air quickly after his paymasters at Disney felt the heat from unhappy fans of his show, and deftly threaded the needle between contrition and defiance:

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…. 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 bo

See Full Page