Jimmy Kimmel<\/a>\u2019s show off the air wasn\u2019t quite as rash as one might think. The issue had been brewing all week throughout the executive ranks at Disney and ABC \u2014 ever since Kimmel made comments during his Monday night monologue about Charlie Kirk\u2019s suspected killer and, as he called Trump\u2019s supporters, the \u201cMAGA gang.\u201d\n <\/p>\n\n Kimmel\u2019s remarks Monday attracted ire from the critics on the right, which put it on Disney\u2019s radar. On Tuesday\u2019s show, Kimmel doubled down, saying, \u201cMany in MAGA-land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n But it wasn\u2019t until Wednesday afternoon, after FCC chair Brendan Carr went onto a conservative podcast and threatened to pull ABC affiliate broadcast licenses, that the matter really escalated. Then Nexstar \u2014 the station group which airs \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d in approximately two dozen markets \u2014 announced they would not air the show.\n <\/p>\n
\n Carr publicly stating that Disney was at risk to lose its local broadcast licenses was a \u201creal, serious threat\u201d for all of ABC, a source familiar with the situation told CNN.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t just about \u2018Jimmy Kimmel Live.\u2019 It\u2019s about all of ABC and all of the shows and all employees,\u201d another source privy to ongoing conversations at the company said.\n <\/p>\n
\n A veteran television news producer \u2014 who is not employed by ABC \u2014 told CNN, \u201cThere is no more terrifying circumstance for a broadcast entity than the threat of an FCC fine, or worse, that the agency could move to revoke the stations\u2019 broadcast licenses.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n According to one of the individuals familiar with the situation, Kimmel was prepared to deliver his monologue on his show Wednesday night and planned to address the right-wing backlash to his remarks made earlier in the week regarding the politicalization of Kirk\u2019s killing. This individual describes Kimmel\u2019s planned monologue as \u201cvery hot,\u201d taking aim at the MAGA base.\n <\/p>\n
![\"Demonstrators](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ap25261706669269.jpg\")
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\n It was then that Disney executives had conversations with Kimmel about \u201ctaking down the temperature\u201d of his monologue, according to the individual. Nexstar announced its plan to pull Kimmel\u2019s show at the same time.\n <\/p>\n
\n That\u2019s when Disney CEO Bob Iger and Disney Entertainment Co-chairman Dana Walden made the decision to preempt the show indefinitely \u2014 in hopes of protecting Kimmel and the Disney brand from accelerating the controversy.\n <\/p>\n
\n Walden called Kimmel to have a conversation about how to move forward, one source said. Walden and Kimmel have a longstanding, positive relationship, and Kimmel has always been incredibly well-regarded within ABC, according to numerous sources.\n <\/p>\n
![\"Jimmy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/177530-0523.jpg\")
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\n \u201cEveryone deeply values him and wants him to come back,\u201d one source familiar said. \u201cBut he has to take down the temperature.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The source notes that Kimmel has always been free to speak his mind about Trump and has never been censored on his show. But with serious FCC threats, the company had to make a business decision.\n <\/p>\n
\n Several of the individuals who spoke to CNN said that Disney employees and staff members on \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d began to receive death threats following Carr\u2019s remarks on Wednesday, with their email addresses and phone numbers being doxed and blasted across social media. For Disney, the issue under consideration was bigger than Kimmel: It became a safety issue for employees and the show\u2019s advertisers.\n <\/p>\n
\n While no decision has been made on how to move forward, the source said Disney is \u201chopeful\u201d there is path to bring Kimmel\u2019s show back.\n <\/p>\n
\n His contract is up at the end of his current season, taking him through May 2026. For years, Kimmel \u2014 who has also hosted the Oscars for ABC and just won an Emmy for hosting the network\u2019s \u201cWho Wants To Be A Millionaire?\u201d \u2014 has contended with whether to continue his show, most recently debating whether to renew his contract in 2022.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cAfter two decades at ABC, I am now looking forward to three years of what they call \u2018quiet quitting,\u2019\u201d Kimmel joked in a statement at the time his most recent contract extension was announced.\n <\/p>\n
\n Kimmel has not yet spoken publicly about his show being suspended. CNN has reached out to Kimmel\u2019s representatives for comment.\n <\/p>\n
\n ABC did not respond to CNN\u2019s request for comment regarding the future of the show.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Facebook Tweet Email Link The decision to yank Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s show off the air wasn\u2019t quite as rash…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[458,146,85,46],"class_list":["post-24698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}