ABC on Wednesday night pulled the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” late-night show off the air “indefinitely” after controversial comments by its host about the slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The announcement came hours after the head of the Federal Communications Commission suggested the broadcast licence of ABC, which is a subsidiary of Disney, was at risk, and after Nexstar Media Group said its stations affiliated with ABC would “preempt ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ for the foreseeable future beginning with tonight’s show.”
A person familiar with the situation told CNBC that Kimmel is not fired and that Disney plans to speak with him about what he should say when he goes back on the air.
Jimmy Kimmel, during his opening monologue for Monday night’s show, suggested that Tyler Robinson, the man accused of fatally shooting Kirk last week at a Utah university, was aligned with President Donald Trump’s MAGA — Make America Great Again — movement.
“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 added.
An ABC spokesman on Wednesday night said, “‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ will be pre-empted indefinitely.”
Hours earlier, FCC Chair Brendan Carr told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson that Kimmel’s comments were “truly sick,” and that there was a “strong case” for action against ABC and Disney.
“This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
“They have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest,” Carr said.
ABC’s pre-emption of Kimmel’s show is perhaps the most dramatic example of a media figure suffering backlash for their public reaction to Kirk’s assassination.
MSNBC fired political analyst Matthew Dowd last week after he said on-air about the killing that “hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions.”
The Washington Post fired an opinion columnist Karen Attiah after she said there were “racial double standards” in social media reactions to Kirk’s slaying.
Trump on Wednesday crowed about Kimmel’s show being pre-empted in a social media post that suggested NBC cancel its own show, “Late Night with Seth Myers.”
“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!!!” Trump wrote.
Nexstar, which is seeking FCC approval for a $6.2 billion merger with Tegna, in its statement said, “Nexstar strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets,” Nextstar said.
Andrew Alford, the president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, said, “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.”
“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.
— CNBC’s Alex Sherman contributed to this story.
This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.
