The big uproar over Jimmy Kimmel and the TV show suspension he received after falsely claiming the Charlie Kirk murderer was a MAGA supporter reminds me of what happened to Alex Jones.
Jones, whom I might remind you, was the creator of Infowars, a website built on vitamin supplements and conspiracy theories. Well, in the aftermath of the Sandy Hooks Elementary School shooting in Connecticut back on December 14, 2012 in which 20 people were massacred by a madman, Jones, on his radio show, claimed that this massacre had been made up, that it was completely false.
The parents of those children and adults killed that day got pretty damned angry with his statements. So angry that they sued him for defamation and won $4.2 million in compensatory damages and $45.2 in punitive damages. A separate case netted a near million dollar judgement for the Sandy Hooks families. Infowars and Alex Jones went on to bankruptcy.
Looking back at the Jones’ case, Jimmy Kimmel’s reckless lie about assassin Tyler Robinson being a MAGA supporter seems to have left Kimmel and his employer, ABC News, open to the same kind of defamation lawsuit by Charlie Kirk’s widow. And not only Kimmel, but many prominent people from news media pundits to celebrities with a microphone could feel her wrath.
Whether she does sue or lets it go will be up to her but there seems to be some interesting similarities in the two events.
© Clyde James Aragon
