Fox News host Greg Gutfeld reportedly took sharp aim at Democrats and media figures on Thursday, accusing them of trivializing tragedy by focusing more on ABC’s dismissal of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel than on the recent assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
Speaking during the panel discussion program The Five, Gutfeld argued that the comparison being made by some on the left — that Kimmel’s ouster could be viewed in the same light as Kirk’s killing — was both dishonest and offensive.
“The media is trying to make Jimmy Kimmel into their Charlie Kirk, as if getting fired is the same as getting fired upon. THAT’S what disgusts me,” Gutfeld said.
Kirk, who was gunned down just a week earlier, had built a reputation for engaging in often heated debates with ideological opponents on college campuses and in public forums.
For Gutfeld, that willingness to face dissent set Kirk apart from most media figures, and underscored the gulf between his fate and Kimmel’s career troubles.
“You can’t turn Kimmel into Kirk,” Gutfeld said, emphasizing that while Kirk’s voice was silenced permanently, Kimmel still “could go home to see his kids every day.”
Gutfeld’s remarks came amid what he described as a coordinated attempt to recast Kimmel as a kind of casualty of political polarization. He rejected the notion outright, calling attention instead to the risks borne by public conservatives like Kirk, who exposed themselves to audiences that were not always welcoming.
Referring to himself and other television personalities as “indoor cats,” Gutfeld conceded that most in the media rarely put themselves in situations comparable to Kirk’s campus debates. “Even in death, Charlie is still winning debates,” he said.
Gutfeld echoed his point in an earlier post on X, where he drew a contrast between entertainers who face professional setbacks and conservative figures who risk physical harm for their public engagement.
“I have friends who will be performing in front of live audiences that number in the thousands,” Gutfeld wrote. “They aren’t worried about being fired; they’re worried now, about being fired upon. CNN hacks cannot grasp that because they’ve never had to worry about such threats, or an audience.”
His comments reflect a broader conservative frustration with how the media frames cultural and political controversies.
By focusing heavily on Kimmel’s departure from ABC, Gutfeld suggested, mainstream outlets were avoiding the far more serious question of political violence directed at the right.
For Gutfeld, the attempted comparison was more than a stretch — it was an insult to Kirk’s memory.
By insisting that Kimmel could not and should not be cast in the same light, Gutfeld reminded viewers of the stakes facing conservatives who step outside television studios and into contentious public arenas.
Kirk’s death, he suggested, was not just the silencing of a prominent conservative but also a warning about the dangers that come with challenging entrenched orthodoxy.
And in that regard, Gutfeld argued, no amount of media spin could turn a contract dispute into the equivalent of a bullet.
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