ABC has suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show indefinitely 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.
In a Sept. 11 episode of his show, Kimmel criticized President Donald Trump for saying Democrats were responsible for the fatal shooting of Kirk. “With all these terrible things happening you would think that our president would at least make an attempt to bring us together but he didn’t,” Kimmel said during his opening monologue.
He then mentioned statements issued by former presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton regarding Kirk’s death, adding that they tried to bring Americans together after tragedy.
Show Pulled Off-Air
A network spokesperson said Wednesday that Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be “pre-empted indefinitely.”
“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,” a company representative said in a statement.
Kimmel also mentioned in his Monday monologue that Tyler Robinson, the Utah man accused in the shooting death of Kirk, might have been a pro-Trump Republican. He said MAGA supporters “are 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 then mocked President Trump for talking about the construction of a new White House ballroom after being asked how he was reacting to the murder of his close ally.
“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,” Kimmel said during his opening monologue in the Sept. 15 episode of his talk show.
“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,” said Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division.
Network affiliates dropping a late-night program over the political views expressed in it is unprecedented. The closest situation goes back to 1970, when CBS blacked out the image of activist Abbie Hoffman when he appeared on “The Merv Griffin Show” wearing a shirt made out of an American flag.