ABC said Wednesday it has pulled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air “indefinitely” following host Jimmy Kimmel’s comments over the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live will be pre-empted indefinitely,” a network spokesperson told FWRD AXIS News in a statement Wednesday.
On Monday’s show, Kimmel criticized the response to Kirk’s killing from the far MAGA right, calling out Trump and his lack of empathy over the assassination of Kirk.
“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. “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”
He went to play a video of Trump being asked about Kirk’s killing but the President instead decided to talk about the construction of his new $200 million ballroom.
The decision by ABC came just hours after Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, a supporter of President Donald Trump, threatened to “take action” against Disney and ABC over Kimmel’s remarks.
Carr described Kimmel’s remarks as “the sickest conduct possible” in an interview with conservative commentator Benny Johnson.
Speaking on Fox News host Sean Hannity, Carr Carr repeatedly referred to Trump’s election and said, “There’s more work to go.” The “legacy media,” he said, “threw everything” at Trump.
“We at the FCC are going to enforce the public interest obligation,” Carr said. “If there’s broadcasters out there that don’t like it, they can turn their license in to the FCC.”
Nexstar Media Group, which said it would be pulling Kimmel’s program from affiliates that it operates over concerns about his Kirk comments.
“Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located,” Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, said in a press release. “Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue.”
In a post on Truth Social, Trump celebrated the news while threatening that NBC hosts Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon remain and could be next.
“Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!! President DJT.”
