Rep. Swalwell sports ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ hat on CNN after show pulled

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., donned a “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” hat during an interview with CNN on Thursday, after the late-night host’s show was pulled. 

“Congressman, I see you are wearing a hat. What does that hat say?” CNN host John Berman asked the lawmaker, who responded with, “You’re damn right I am, John.”

Disney said Wednesday it was pulling late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s program after the liberal comedian’s remarks about the death of Charlie Kirk.

“It should shake every American that the president of the United States is out there firing comedians who make fun of him. That is not who we are. And every American should care and stand up to this,” Swalwell said.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., joined CNN’s “News Central” for an interview wearing a “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” hat on Sept. 18, 2025. (CNN/CNNNewsCentral)

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Berman pushed back: “You know that a private company can fire whomever they want for saying anything.” 

The CNN host noted that Kimmel wasn’t fired, then asked Swalwell if he believed something else was happening behind the scenes.

“The head of the FCC, Brendan Carr, who works for Donald Trump, put out a tweet yesterday that said, ‘We can do this the easy way, which is that ABC suspends Jimmy Kimmel, or we can do it the hard way, which is the government, Donald Trump’s government, takes action against Jimmy Kimmel,’ and put ABC in an impossible position. Now, ABC should have stood up to the FCC and fought them,” Swalwell said. 

Berman asked Swalwell if he endorsed what Kimmel said about Kirk, since he was wearing a Kimmel hat.

Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show was pulled off the air by Disney on Sept. 17, 2025. (Randy Holmes/Disney)

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“I don’t have to endorse it, but if you listen to it, all he said was that the right was going out of their way to try and find anyone responsible but themselves for what happened to Charlie Kirk. And he said this on Monday, when not much information was available about the killer. He didn’t say the killer came from MAGA, and he made a joke about Donald Trump,” Swalwell said. 

The Democratic lawmaker said Kimmel had a “right to be a comedian.” 

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President Donald Trump walks to Air Force One at Morristown Airport on Sept. 14, 2025, in Morristown, New Jersey. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

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During Kimmel’s monologue on Monday, the host claimed right-wing critics were hitting “new lows” trying to frame the suspect, 22-year-old Utah native Tyler Robinson, as someone who wasn’t “MAGA.”

“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said.

Fox News’ Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.