Watching Jimmy Kimmel treat the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson like a punchline was nauseating, and conservative voices across the country have every right to call it out. Dave Rubin rightly highlighted the clip on his show, pointing to how late-night’s reflexive mockery of serious matters only deepens the divide between elites and everyday Americans who expect basic decency from our media.
This is not trivia or celebrity gossip — federal prosecutors say Luigi Mangione ambushed and fatally shot Thompson in a premeditated attack, and he now faces serious federal charges including murder and weapons offenses. The Department of Justice laid out the gravity of the crime and the evidence uncovered after his arrest, underscoring that this was a targeted killing with real victims and a grieving family.
Instead of mourning a father of two and respecting the judicial process, Kimmel publicly read texts from his staff bragging about how obsessed they are with the suspect, turning a homicide into a late-night locker-room game. Those exchanges — which he displayed on air while joking about “a huge wave of horny” over an accused killer — reveal a corrosive moral double standard in parts of the media that glamorize political violence when it feeds their narrative.
Make no mistake: federal prosecutors are treating this as one of the most serious types of violent crime, and the DOJ has signaled it will pursue the harshest penalties where appropriate. This is proof the matter should never be reduced to celebrity gossip or celebrated by any journalist or entertainer, no matter their politics.
Conservatives aren’t trying to silence comedy; we’re insisting on basic humanity and respect for victims. Dave Rubin’s criticism — that the media machine and its celebrity courtiers too often excuse or fetishize lawlessness — is a sober reminder that free speech comes with responsibility, especially when a family is mourning and a country demands justice.
Networks like ABC must answer for allowing a culture where staff exchanges about an alleged murderer are aired for laughs, and advertisers should demand accountability when shows cross that line. If late-night hosts want to remain trusted voices in American life, they must choose empathy over exploitation and stop normalizing the spectacle of violence when it serves their brand.
Americans who work hard, raise families, and follow the rule of law deserve better than sanctimonious elites who turn a real crime into a viral trend. It’s time the media stop glamorizing criminals, start standing with victims, and remind their audiences that liberty and decency go hand in hand with accountability.
