Late night host Jimmy Kimmel came under fire for comments he made on his show about the suspected shooter in Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
ABC announced on Sept. 17 that it will indefinitely stop airing “Jimmy Kimmel Live” after the host of the show made remarks about conservative commentator Charlie Kirk’s assassination that have drawn criticism from the head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Media group Sinclair announced its ABC stations will air a special in remembrance of Kirk during the time slot previously held by Kimmel.
“Sinclair’s ABC stations will air a special in remembrance of Charlie Kirk this Friday, during the ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ timeslot. The special will also air across all Sinclair stations this weekend. In addition, Sinclair is offering the special to all ABC affiliates across the country,” the group said in a post on X.
During a recent show, Kimmel delivered a controversial monologue about Kirk’s suspected killer, saying, “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.”
He was referencing Tyler Robinson, the suspected shooter involved in Kirk’s assassination on Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University.
Ahead of ABC’s announcement, Nexstar Media Group Inc. said that it would stop airing the show on its 32 ABC affiliate stations.
“Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse,” Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, said in a statement on Wednesday.
“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,” Alford said.
Kimmel’s comments drew criticism from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, and Carr in a post on X thanked Nexstar for “doing the right thing.”
“Local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest. While this may be an unprecedented decision, it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values,” Carr said. “I hope that other broadcasters follow Nexstar’s lead.”
In an interview on Sept. 17 with conservative commentator Benny Johnson, Carr described Kimmel’s monologue about Robinson as an effort “to play into the narrative that this was somehow a MAGA- or Republican-motivated person.”
“What people don’t understand is that the broadcasters … have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest,” he said.
Carr said his agency has a “strong case” to pursue action against Kimmel, ABC, and parent company Disney for spreading politically motivated misinformation.
“I think you could certainly see a path forward for [Kimmel’s] suspension over this,” he said. “The FCC could make a strong argument that this is sort of an intentional effort to mislead the American people about a very core fundamental fact, a very important matter.”
He suggested that broadcasters who air “Jimmy Kimmel Live” could face investigation, fines, or license revocations.
Trump praised the decision.
“Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Trump said that Kimmel’s cancellation “leaves Jimmy and Seth,” referencing NBC late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers.
“Do it NBC!!!” Trump wrote.
Democrats condemned the decision to cancel Kimmel’s show.
In a post on X, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote: “America is meant to be a bastion of free speech. Everybody across the political spectrum should be speaking out to stop what’s happening to Jimmy Kimmel.”
“This is about protecting democracy,” Schumer added. “This must go to court.”
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called on ABC to reverse the decision.
“First. Everybody should be saying that ABC should reverse their decision. This is not something they should have been doing,” Pritzker told MSNBC in an interview.
“I don’t think that ABC, at least historically, has not been an organization that has exhibited this kind of behavior. But you know, now we’re seeing the pressure that can be brought by the federal government.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
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