O’Reilly says he was ‘absolutely wrong’ to ‘cut Kimmel some slack’ in the past

Bill O'Reilly, appearing on NewsNation, reversed his past defense of Jimmy Kimmel, calling remarks the late-night host made before the White House Correspondents' Association dinner shooting "absolutely wrong" and characterizing Kimmel's comedy as "hate speech" rather than satire. The Hill reports O'Reilly's on-air comments but the article description is truncated, limiting visibility into the specific remarks by Kimmel that triggered this reversal or the full context of O'Reilly's argument. Independent coverage from NewsNation and Mediaite corroborates O'Reilly's statements and adds that he called for Kimmel's show to be removed from air, claiming Kimmel's "job on television is to hate President Trump." The reporting itself meets basic journalistic standards—attributed quotes from a named source on an identified program—but the truncated description and lack of Kimmel's perspective or response, combined with O'Reilly's inflammatory framing ("hate speech," no "social redeeming quality"), suggests the piece leans toward O'Reilly's characterization without substantive pushback or broader context about the original incident.