Jimmy Kimmel isn’t the first late-night host to get caught on the media griddle.

Kimmel is the latest in a short line of wee-hours personalities to spark controversies with jokes that offended as many as they tickled — perhaps more. On Monday night, the ABC personality walked a tightrope with a joke tied to Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist whose September 10 assassination has spurred a wave of “cancel culture” moves by the right.

Undaunted, Kimmel poked fun at President Trump’s odd reaction to being asked how he was holding up after the death of an ally (Trump pivoted to talking about his new White house ballroom). And Kimmel provoked conservative watchdogs by saying that “the MAGA gang” was “trying to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of

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