By Dawn Chmielewski and Lisa Richwine

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Reuters) -Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel said on Wednesday he believed his comments about the reaction to the assassination of political activist Charlie Kirk were “intentionally and maliciously mischaracterized” by critics before his show was suspended.

Kimmel drew outrage from conservatives for saying on his September 17 show that President Donald Trump’s supporters were desperate to characterize Kirk’s accused assassin “as anything other than one of them” and for trying to “score political points” from his murder.

“I didn’t think there was a big problem,” Kimmel said to the initial backlash to his comments. “I just saw it as distortion on the part of some of the right-wing media networks, and I aimed to correct it.”

Speaking a

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