NEW YORK (AP) — ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show indefinitely beginning yesterday, Sept. 17, after comments that he made about Charlie Kirk’s killing led a group of ABC-affiliated stations to say it would not air the show and provoked ominous comments from a top federal regulator.
The veteran late-night comic made several remarks about the reaction to the conservative activist’s assassination last week on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Monday and Tuesday nights, including that “many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk” and that supporters of President Donald Trump were “desperately trying to characterize” Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old charged in Kirk’s murder, as “anything other than one of them.”
ABC, which has aired Kimmel’s late-night show since 2003, moved swiftly after Nexstar Communications Group said it would pull the show starting Wednesday. Kimmel’s comments about Kirk’s death “are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse,” said Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division. Nexstar operates 23 ABC affiliates.
There was no immediate comment from Kimmel, whose contract is up in May 2026. ABC’s statement did not cite a reason for why his show was preempted.
Trump celebrated ABC’s move on the social media site Truth Social, writing: “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.”
Earlier in the day, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr called Kimmel’s comments “truly sick” and said his agency has a strong case for holding Kimmel, ABC and network parent Walt Disney Co. accountable for spreading misinformation. He said the comic appeared to be making an intentional effort to mislead the public that Kirk’s assassin was a right-wing Trump supporter.
During his Monday evening monologue, Kimmel suggested that Kirk’s alleged killer, Robinson, might have been a pro-Trump Republican. “The MAGA Gang (is) 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.”
“This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney,” Carr said on the Benny Johnson podcast. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Authorities say the 22-year-old grew up in a conservative household in southern Utah but was enmeshed in “leftist ideology.” His parents told investigators he had turned politically left and pro-LGBTQ rights in the last year. His voter status is inactive, meaning he did not vote in two regular general elections. He told his transgender partner that he targeted Kirk because he had “had enough of his hatred.”
The business landscape around late-night television
Both Disney and Nexstar have FCC business ahead of them. Disney is seeking regulatory approval for ESPN’s acquisition of the NFL Network and Nexstar needs the Trump administration go-ahead to complete its $6.2 billion purchase of broadcast rival Tegna.
For both companies, reinstating Kimmel after a suspension would risk the ire of Trump, who has already claimed that the show has been canceled.
While CBS said this past summer that it was canceling Stephen Colbert’s show next May for financial reasons, some critics have wondered if his stance on Trump played a role. Both Colbert and Kimmel have made the president the frequent target of their jokes. Soon after the Colbert cancellation, the FCC approved CBS parent company Paramount’s long-pending deal with Skydance.
Trump similarly celebrated Colbert’s impending exit. “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” Trump said then. “His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next.”
Within the past year, both Disney and CBS parent Paramount chose to settle lawsuits brought by Trump against their news divisions rather than fight it out in court.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez criticized the administration for “using the weight of government power to suppress lawful expression” in a post on X.
“Another media outlet withered under government pressure, ensuring that the administration will continue to extort and exact retribution on broadcasters and publishers who criticize it,” said Ari Cohn, lead counsel for tech policy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. “We cannot be a country where late-night talk show hosts serve at the pleasure of the president.”
See also: Trump administration joins Republicans’ campaign to police speech in reaction to Kirk’s killing
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