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.
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.
Free speech and Leftist Propaganda are not one in the same.
Here’s the thing that most of these idio…….people don’t seem to understand. The first amendment applies to keeping GOVERNMENT from restricting free speech, not private companies. They can hire and fire whomever they please (as long as it is not discriminatory for race, etc.). If the company thinks the actions of an employee are negatively impacting business, they can fire the employee. That is exactly what happened here. Geez
Several years back i remember a story about a guy who drove a delivery truck for Cococola, who got fired, because some snapped pics of him, WEARING a t-shirt FOR PEPSI..
That was not a ‘free speech’ issue it was a “YOU violated company policy issue!”
Not to mention Kimmie’s ratings were in the toilet.. just waiting to be flushed.
After all, the only thing Media Network executive care about more than “journalist/entertainment integrity” is ratings.
If you’re not pulling in the numbers you’re not bringing in the revenue.
Just ask Colbert.
Exactly
Good riddance, Kimmel. Don’t let the door hit you in the butt on the way out.
Nothing but a left-wing no-talent anyway.
“Jimmy Kimmel isn’t funny.” – Charlie Kirk
Socialism means government sanctioned comedians that you are required to laugh long with.
“We know is not funny. But keep laughing, comrade, or gulag!”
Now who’s next!
They keep teasing about The View. I thought they were suppose to be “on hiatus” by now, but they’re still on air spreading their lies and poison.
It can’t be because their ratings just miraculously improved.
I wonder what’s preventing them from doing the most humane thing for everyone concerned and just pull the trigger…metaphorically speaking, of course, and put the poor old sick dog out of everybody’s misery.
Hmmm. Maybe like Colbert, they’re waiting for existing contracts to wind down? At least they’re still giving Gutfeld material…
Remember Rosanne got fired . she Apologized. But was still fired. So ABC will lose a viewer if he gets his job back
Yeah, outrageous!
And she was fired for what she said online, not what she said on her show.
She was fired for her opinion expressed on a social media site, not because she straight up lied like Kimmel did on air.
And if they do bring Kimmel back, they might get a boost in the ratings from celebrating Dems…but it won’t last because if they were all watching in the first place, chances are Kimmel never would have been fired at all, regardless of the dishonest trash talk he was spewing.