Podcast Summary: The Megyn Kelly Show — Ep. 1157

Episode Title: Kimmel's Smug Double Down, Violent Left Rhetoric, and Free Speech Hypocrisy
Release Date: September 25, 2025
Host: Megyn Kelly
Guests: Emily Jashinsky (Host of "After Party") & Eliana Johnson (Editor-in-Chief, Free Beacon)

Overview

This episode centers on the fallout from Jimmy Kimmel’s controversial comments about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, subsequent media coverage, the reactions of both the left and the right, and broader cultural issues including violent political rhetoric, selective media narratives, and debates over free speech. Megyn is joined by Emily Jashinsky and Eliana Johnson for a detailed, opinionated breakdown of current events, focusing on perceived hypocrisy and double standards in media and culture.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Charlie Kirk’s Assassination and Turning Point Tour

• Megyn’s Return from Virginia Tech:
  • She addresses the courage of students attending a Turning Point event shortly after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, praising their bravery amid political violence.
  • Erica Kirk’s decision to continue with the event tour after her husband’s death is highlighted as inspiring and courageous (04:50).
  • Megyn emphasizes the emotional resonance at Charlie’s funeral—“Courage is actually easy. All you have to do is say yes. Just say yes and then do the thing.” (05:40)
• Announcement:
  • Erica Kirk will join the final stop of the “Megyn Kelly Live” tour in Glendale, AZ (06:16–07:32).

2. Jimmy Kimmel: The ‘Non-Apology’ and Hypocrisy

• Kimmel’s Return and Monologue:
  • Megyn airs and critiques Kimmel’s emotional monologue after his on-air comments linking MAGA to Charlie Kirk’s murder. She calls him “a self-pitying baby” (08:12) and argues his emotion is “crying for himself…not for Erica Kirk, not for Charlie” (11:21).
  • Quote:
    • Kimmel (clip): “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.” (09:30)
    • Megyn responds: “He absolutely made light of Charlie Kirk’s murder…He made a joke out of it…he thought that they would be a fun target to mock and then suggested they were the ones who did this, that this guy was MAGA, which was a lie.” (10:01)
  • Kimmel thanks, without apologizing, conservatives who supported his right to speak: “They make me want to barf, but appreciate the support with no apology whatsoever.” (12:50)
  • Megyn and guests agree Kimmel displayed no true remorse, instead seeking forgiveness without accountability.
• The Original Comment:
  • Kimmel’s original remarks directly accused MAGA of trying to distance themselves from Kirk’s killer despite evidence to the contrary (13:09–13:22). Megyn calls this “spreading something that was untrue” and “a damaging lie” (15:48).
  • Eliana: “He should have been crying…not after he got in trouble” (16:17).

3. Late Night Comedy’s Political Bias

• Kimmel’s Anti-Trump Riff:
  • Megyn critiques a segment where Kimmel compares Trump to a playground bully, calling it “not even arguably clever” and evidence Kimmel is no longer genuinely funny or apolitical (22:08).
  • Quote: Eliana: “Nobody wants him off the air because he makes jokes about Donald Trump. They’re mad…because all Jimmy Kimmel does is talk about Donald Trump.” (23:23)
• Partisan Booking Statistics:
  • Megyn shares staggering stats on late-night guests:
    • Colbert: 176 Democrats/1 Republican
    • Kimmel: 58 Democrats/2 Republicans
    • Total across shows since Jan 2023: 511 Democrats/14 Republicans (27:23).
  • Emily notes this is “not any attempt to be funny. This is an attempt to drive votes by all of those guys.” (28:58)

4. Media, Free Speech, and Cancel Culture

• Debate Over Kimmel’s Temporary Removal
  • Panel debates whether government FCC action (by Brendan Carr) to pressure stations to drop Kimmel was justified.
  • Megyn: “It is a good thing for America that Jimmy Kimmel was off the air for five nights and that the leftists felt one tiny dose of what we have been feeling for years on the right.” (33:16)
  • Emily expresses skepticism that “giving them a taste of their own medicine will return things to normal… but I’m sympathetic to your view.” (34:12)
• Free Speech Hypocrisy
  • Panel points out how the mainstream media rushes to defend Kimmel under “free speech” when it's a left-leaning host, but is silent or complicit when conservatives are punished or de-platformed (41:15).
  • Megyn gives examples of personal attacks and double standards, referencing her own NBC experience and Kimmel’s blackface controversies (42:01).

5. Left-Wing Violence & Media Evasion

• Dallas ICE Shooting & Media Obfuscation

  • Megyn outlines a recent shooting at an ICE facility, where the shooter’s bullets were etched “anti-ICE” and his car was full of communist paraphernalia—yet media outlets (NPR, NBC, MSNBC) insist the motive is “unclear.”
    • “Just read the bullet. You don’t have to go far. Read the damn bullet.” (46:18)
  • Eliana: “What’s even worse than openly lying is that they’ve deluded themselves. It actually lets the left off the hook.” (49:04)
  • The panel argues the legacy media’s pattern is clear: if a leftist commits violence, motives are ignored or dismissed, whereas right-wing violence is instantly attributed to conservative rhetoric (50:30–51:00).

• Student Exchange at Virginia Tech

  • Megyn shares a tense Q&A from the event:
    • Student: “Why do you support a president who contributes to the rhetoric that got your friend Charlie killed?”
    • Megyn: “That’s a blatant lie. It’s a defamatory blaspheme and it’s inappropriate in the setting.” (55:37–56:24)

6. Rhetoric, Copycats, and Political Double Standards

• Violent Rhetoric from the Left
  • Compilation of Democrats comparing ICE agents to Gestapo, slave patrols, and calling them a “terrorist force” (74:35–75:30).
  • Chris Murphy, D-CT, on MSNBC: “Our only opportunity, our only chance to save our democracy is to fight Fox with fire right now... You have to do whatever is necessary in order to save the country.” (77:18–77:59)
  • Emily: “There is pretty good research going back to the 1960s about the contagion effect of political violence…” (78:06)
• Media “Both Sides” Fallacy
  • Megyn: “I have zero tolerance for reporters who get in my face about it. I don’t have tolerance for students who want to both sides it…Our people are getting shot at…it actually matters that we’re super honest about what the motivations are.” (66:00)
  • Eliana: “How disgusting is it if you’re Jimmy Kimmel to only cry after you get in trouble and to not be in mourning immediately after this. I think they’ve totally underestimated how traumatic what happened to Charlie Kirk was for the country.” (87:00)

7. Internal Conservative Disputes & Support for Israel

• Pressure Over Israel Commentary
  • Megyn addresses attacks from the American Jewish Committee and figures like Mark Levin and Abe Greenwald for discussing possible Mossad ties to Epstein and intra-conservative debate re: Israel/antisemitism (92:17–108:26).
  • She replays Charlie Kirk’s own comments about refusing to “stop being friends with people just because people morally blackmail me. I don’t do that, and you shouldn’t either.” (107:14)
  • Megyn: “Criticism of Israel on a standalone subject is entirely fair game… Criticism is not antisemitism. I’ve had it up to here with the Mark Levins and Abe Greenwalds of the world.” (108:26)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Megyn Kelly on Kimmel’s Response:

  • “He’s crying for himself…when the reason he’s speaking about Erica Kirk’s call for forgiveness…is because he wants everyone to forgive him without actually apologizing or owning up to what he did.” (11:21)

• Emily Jashinsky on Kimmel’s “Apology”:

  • “What he said wasn’t a joke. He said, 'MAGA’s trying to pretend that it wasn’t one of them who did this.' That wasn’t a joke. He was serious about that. And then his apology was, 'I didn’t mean to do that,' rather than 'I’m sorry for what I did.'” (17:48)

• Megyn Kelly on Media’s Double Standard:

  • “We have to be clear. Nutcase doing a nutcase thing is one thing…I get that. But this—Charlie’s assassination, the assassination attempt on Donald Trump—those were political acts. We have to be honest.” (66:00)

• Emily Jashinsky on Media Evasion:

  • “When left wingers commit violence, we can never know the motive. When right wingers commit violence, the motive is always clear. It’s right-wing rhetoric…They are not informing, they are obfuscating.” (60:15)

• Megyn Kelly on Free Speech & Cancel Culture:

  • “Our people have been having this happen to them for years and not for five nights. So for five nights they experienced what it’s like to be a conservative.” (33:16)

Key Timestamps

• 07:38: Emily and Eliana join; host sets up episode themes
• 08:12: Megyn critiques Kimmel’s on-air emotional return
• 13:09: Playback of Kimmel’s original controversial comments
• 20:57: Kimmel’s Trump-as-bully monologue
• 27:23: Late night shows’ booking stats reveal extreme partisan imbalance
• 33:16: Debate on FCC/Brendan Carr’s involvement in Kimmel’s hiatus
• 41:11: Kimmel mocking Trump’s social media bans; Megyn responds on free speech hypocrisy
• 46:18: Media’s framing of the Dallas ICE shooting; Megyn: “Just read the bullet”
• 55:18: Virginia Tech Q&A; Megyn rebuts student’s narrative on political violence
• 74:35: Compilation of Democrats’ anti-ICE rhetoric
• 77:18: Chris Murphy’s “fight fire with fire” statement
• 92:17: Megyn addresses intra-conservative attacks around Israel discourse
• 107:11: Charlie Kirk’s comments about refusing moral blackmail over friendships

Tone and Language

The show is unsparing, blunt, and emotionally raw, punctuated by moments of dark humor and honest frustration. The hosts and guests use colloquial language, often laced with sarcasm and exasperation (“suck it. Have a taste of our medicine”—Megyn, 33:16). There is an undercurrent of grief and anger over recent violence, but also a persistent focus on fighting back—in rhetoric, in media, and in person.

Takeaway

Listeners are provided an in-depth, opinionated account of the Kimmel controversy and recent political violence, framed through a lens of media criticism, free speech debates, and warnings about the dangers of selective reporting and rhetorical escalation. The show calls on its audience to remain vigilant, vocal, and unafraid of telling uncomfortable truths.