'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' (ABC)
On Wednesday, Jimmy Kimmel Live! hosted My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, one of the loudest and most bizarre proponents of the baseless conspiracy that the 2020 election was a fraud and that former President Donald Trump actually won. It’s an obvious lie and one that led to a deadly insurrection in the U.S. Capitol in January. But still, host Jimmy Kimmel, who's been making fun of Lindell’s flamboyant and fact-free tirades about alleged election fraud (often with the assistance of the great impersonator James Adomian) for months, decided to give Lindell a platform. If you’re reading this news for the first time and thinking, “it's probably not a good idea to give a lying conspiracy theorist who thinks Trump should have declared martial law to keep the presidency nearly 20 minutes of airtime on a network talk show,” you’re not alone. The day before Wednesday night’s show, advocacy groups including Common Cause, League of Women Voters of the United States, and Stand Up America sent an open letter to Kimmel and his producers asking the show to cancel the appearance. “We believe that having Mr. Lindell on your show will give him a bigger platform to spread his lies and disinformation, and knowingly mislead the public about the integrity of our election systems,” the letter said. “Even joking about his conspiracy theories can lead to the spread of disinformation. In fact, disinformation actors such as Lindell often seek to get their lies and conspiracy theories debunked in national media in order to give their disinformation broader reach.” Kimmel briefly acknowledged the criticism during the interview. “A lot of people didn’t want you to come on the show,” Kimmel said to Lindell. “But I think it’s important that we talk to each other.” Kimmel’s line about the importance of talking to each received applause it didn’t deserve. Why is it necessary to talk to a charlatan, whose claims about election fraud are easily debunked, increasingly deranged, and dangerous to the point that he’s been sued for over $1.3 billion in damages by Dominion Voting Systems? What utility is there in a dialogue in front of an audience of millions with a person whose claims are so patently false, contradictory, and absurd? Debate is great when both parties act in good faith but Lindell has repeatedly shown he does not. In fact, Lindell used the segment as a marketing opportunity, peddling his 2019 memoir and, according to the Daily Beast, bought advertising space for My Pillow in at least the New York market. Kimmel faltered as a combative interviewer during the segment, despite trying to push back on Lindell’s blather as much as he could. “I don’t think there’s any validity to any of this stuff that you’re saying,” Kimmel said before bringing up how Lindell’s rhetoric could have played a role in the Capitol riots. Elsewhere, Kimmel lost the plot by joking about Lindell’s past addiction to crack cocaine. “I believe that you are sincere. I also think there's something going on from the crack or something," said Kimmel. There’s a way to show genuine concern for someone without using addiction as a punchline. Later, Kimmel lobbed softball questions about whether Lindell would consider running for office one day before impersonator James Adomian charged on screen dressed as Lindell and challenged the real-life My Pillow CEO to a pillow fight. Lindell laughed it off. He left the interview somehow looking less deranged than he does on his regular livestreams and Newsmax appearances.It’s one of the most shameful late night TV segments in recent memory, but it’s not without stiff competition. It’s up there with Kimmel doing a softball interview with former President George W. Bush about his paintings, which happened just days before the Lindell interview. Late night television hosts are entertainers who sometimes act as journalists and as the past few decades have shown, they are totally ill-equipped to handle political charlatans or worse. It’s not just Jimmy Fallon embarrassingly messing up Donald Trump’s hair on his talk show in 2016 (which Stephen Colbert defended in 2018). In 2021, there’s still no evidence from these hosts of any self-reflection on the implications of having these people on their shows. It’s just a joke to them.
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