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ABC has announced it will suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show “indefinitely” after the host’s comments about the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
An ABC spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter Wednesday Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be “pre-empted indefinitely.”
The move comes after Kimmel said on his show Monday, per Deadline, “We had 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 with everything they can to score political points from it.”
The announcement from ABC came soon after Nexstar Media Group, the largest owner of television stations across the country, said that it would no longer air Kimmel’s show. Nexstar owns America’s largest local broadcasting group comprised of top network affiliates, with more than 200 owned or partner stations in 116 U.S. markets reaching 220 million people.
“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,” said the company in a statement.
ABC has announced it will suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show ’indefinitely’ after the host’s comments about the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk (Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
Andrew Alford, the President of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, added: “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 don not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located.”
Alford added: “Continuing to give Mr Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue.”
On Monday night, Kimmel took aim at President Donald Trump’s response to Kirk’s death.
“I think very good,” Trump replied, before immediately changing the subject to talk about the new White House ballroom construction.
“And by the way, right there you see all the trucks. They just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they’ve been trying to get for about 150 years. And it’s gonna be a beauty. It’ll be an absolutely magnificent structure,” he said.
“He’s at the fourth stage of grief: construction,” Kimmel joked.
“This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend,“ he continued. ”This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish, OK?”
Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old man suspected of fatally shooting Kirk, has been officially charged with aggravated murder and six other counts, including obstruction of justice and witness tampering.
Robinson also faces the death penalty if convicted, Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray announced at a press conference earlier today. The accused appeared virtually from jail wearing an anti-suicide vest before a judge at an initial hearing, with the next court date scheduled for September 29.