Donald Trump says American late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel was taken off the air because of “bad ratings” as Democrats slam the move as an attack on free speech.<\/p>\n
Jimmy Kimmel Live, which has been airing on the Disney-owned American Broadcasting Company (ABC) since 2003, was suddenly and indefinitely suspended on Thursday, local time, after Mr Kimmel made comments relating to slain conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalise on the murder of Charlie Kirk,” Mr Kimmel said on his show, adding that Mr Trump’s response was “not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend”.<\/p>\n
“This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish, OK?”<\/p>\n
Mr Kirk was shot dead at a speaking event in Utah earlier this month.<\/p>\n
The late-night host is a frequent critic of Mr Trump, and his comments prompted a number of ABC’s local stations to pull the program from their schedules.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump says Jimmy Kimmel was fired for saying a “horrible thing” about deceased conservative influencer Charlie Kirk. (Reuters: Leon Neal\/Pool)<\/p>\n
ABC later said it had suspended the show indefinitely, leading Democratic politicians and Hollywood figures to accuse the Trump administration and Republicans of mounting an assault on free speech rights.<\/p>\n
When asked about the suspension during his visit in the UK, Mr Trump said Mr Kimmel was “fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else”.<\/p>\n
“He said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person, he had very bad ratings and they should\u2019ve fired him a long time ago.<\/p>\n
“You can call that free speech or not, he was fired for a lack of talent.”<\/p>\n
Democrats accuse FCC of ‘bullying’ show off air<\/p>\n