ABC is taking Jimmy Kimmel’s late night talk show off the air indefinitely amid a controversy over his recent comments about Charlie Kirk’s suspected killer.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live will be pre-empted indefinitely,” an ABC spokesperson said, declining to share any further details.
The abrupt announcement came Wednesday evening after at least one major operator of ABC-affiliated stations said it would not broadcast the show “for the foreseeable future.”
The operator, Nexstar, said it “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.”
The Federal Communications Commission’s Trump-aligned chairman on Wednesday threatened to “take action” against Disney and ABC over Jimmy Kimmel’s recent comments about Charlie Kirk’s suspected killer.
During his Monday evening monologue, Kimmel suggested Kirk’s alleged killer, Tyler 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.”
The ABC late-night host’s remarks constituted “the sickest conduct possible,” FCC chair Brendan Carr told podcaster Benny Johnson on Wednesday.
Carr added that the broadcasters, including ABC, “have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest.”