US President Donald Trump has praised the decision by Disney’s ABC to pull Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show off the air indefinitely, after the TV host and frequent Trump critic accused the MAGA movement of scoring political points off the death of Charlie Kirk.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live will be pre-empted indefinitely,” an ABC spokesperson told CNN, declining to share any further details.
Donald Trump has praised the decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show off the air. (Truth Social)
“Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED,” Trump wrote.
“Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. 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!!! President DJT”.
CNN earlier reported the Federal Communications Commission’s Trump-aligned chairman had threatened to “take action” against Disney and ABC over Kimmel’s recent comments.
Late-night show host Jimmy Kimmel has been pulled off the air. (Jimmy Kimmel Live!/ YouTube)
A representative for Kimmel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The abrupt announcement came today 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”.
Kimmel accused the MAGA movement of trying to score political points from the assassination of Charlie Kirk. (AP)
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 characterise 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.”
Kimmel (centre) at the anti-Trump “No Kings” protest earlier this year. (Instagram/@jimmykimmel)The ABC late-night host’s remarks constituted “the sickest conduct possible,” FCC chair Brendan Carr told right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson before the decision.
Carr suggested his FCC could move to revoke ABC affiliate licences as a way to force Disney to punish Kimmel.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said.
“These companies can find ways to change conduct and take actions on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Carr added that the broadcasters, including ABC, “have a licence granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest”.
Elsewhere in the interview, Carr attacked Kimmel as “talentless” and suggested the late-night comedian’s comments displayed “some sort of desperate irrelevance”.
Disney and ABC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kimmel has been a frequent Trump critic. (YouTube/FoxNews)
This was not the first time Carr has gone after ABC in recent months.
In July, the Trump appointee told Fox News that long-running daytime talk show The View is “now in the crosshairs of this administration” over co-host Joy Behar’s scathing criticism of Trump.But Anna Gomez, the lone Democratic commissioner at the FCC, wrote on X that while “an inexcusable act of political violence by one disturbed individual must never be exploited as justification for broader censorship and control,” the Trump administration “is increasingly using the weight of government power to suppress lawful expression”.”To surrender our right to speak freely is to accept that those in power, not the people, will set the boundaries of debate that define a free society,” Gomez wrote.
Speaking with CNN’s Erin Burnett after Kimmel’s show was taken off the air, Gomez said “the First Amendment does not allow us, the FCC, to tell broadcasters what they can broadcast”.
“I saw the clip. He did not make any unfounded claims, but he did make a joke, one that others may even find crude, but that is neither illegal nor grounds for companies to capitulate to this administration in ways that violate the First Amendment,” Gomez told CNN.
“This sets a dangerous new precedent, and companies must stand firm against any efforts to trade away First Amendment freedom.”
The Centre for American Rights, which has previously lodged bias complaints against NBC, ABC and CBS, today filed a complaint with the FCC over Kimmel’s comments, writing that “it is no defence to say that Kimmel was engaging in satire or late-night comedy rather than traditional news”.
“ABC’s affiliates need to step up and hold ABC accountable as a network for passing through material that fails to respect the public-interest standard to which they are held,” Daniel Suhr, president of the Centre for American Rights, wrote in the complaint.
“Disney as ABC’s corporate owner needs to act directly to correct this problem.”
Kimmel has also been a frequent target of Trump’s ire.
Shortly after CBS announced the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s late-night talk show – a move Carr publicly celebrated – Trump suggested that “Next up will be an even less talented Jimmy Kimmel”.