{"id":146099,"date":"2025-09-18T21:17:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T21:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/146099\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T21:17:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T21:17:11","slug":"jimmy-kimmel-show-suspended-indefinitely-after-charlie-kirk-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/146099\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Kimmel show suspended \u2018indefinitely\u2019 after Charlie Kirk comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

US President Donald Trump has celebrated ABC\u2019s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s late-night show following controversy over comments the host made about the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk.<\/p>\n

The network reportedly pulled the show after several ABC-affiliated stations refused to air it, objecting to comments Kimmel made during shows on Monday and Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The comedian told his audience \u201cmany in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalise on the murder of Charlie Kirk\u201d.<\/p>\n

Kirk was shot during an event on a Utah University campus on September 10. Tyler Robinson, 22, appeared in court on Tuesday, facing charges of aggravated murder over the conservative activist\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Trump praised ABC\u2019s move in a post on Truth Social early on Thursday during his visit to the UK, writing: \u201cCongratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.<\/p>\n

\u201cKimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even (Stephen) Colbert, if that\u2019s possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Monday, Kimmel said the president\u2019s response to Kirk\u2019s death \u201cis not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend\u201d and compared FBI director Kash Patel\u2019s handling of the case to a kid who had not read a book \u201cBSing his way through an oral report\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d Kimmel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn between the finger pointing, there was grieving.\u201d<\/p>\n

The following night, Kimmel mocked vice president JD Vance\u2019s decision to guest host Kirk\u2019s podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cJimmy Kimmel Live will be pre-empted indefinitely,\u201d a spokesperson for the Disney-owned network said in a statement to the BBC.<\/p>\n

The comments also drew the ire of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr, who told podcaster Benny Johnson they constituted the \u201csickest conduct possible\u201d and suggested the FCC could remove affiliate licences if Kimmel was not punished.<\/p>\n

California Governor Gavin Newsom called the cancellation of shows and firing of commentators \u201ccoordinated\u201d and dangerous\u201d.<\/p>\n

Hollywood stars also backed Kimmel, with actor Ben Stiller saying in a post on X the move \u201cisn\u2019t right\u201d, while actress Sophia Bush said the \u201cFirst Amendment doesn\u2019t exist in America anymore\u201d.<\/p>\n

In July, rival network CBS said it was stopping The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in May for financial reasons. Colbert has been a critic of Mr Trump.<\/p>\n

Nexstar Communications Group, which operates more than 20 ABC affiliates, announced it would pull the show from Wednesday, calling Kimmel\u2019s comments \u201coffensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse\u201d.<\/p>\n

Similar statements were echoed by Sinclair, which operates ABC\u2019s largest number of affiliates.<\/p>\n

In a statement posted to X, the company said it would air a special in remembrance of Charlie Kirk on Friday and called on Kimmel to issue a direct apology to Kirk\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

\u201cSinclair will not lift the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on our stations until formal discussions are held with ABC regarding the network\u2019s commitment to professionalism and accountability,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

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\"WhatsApp<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US President Donald Trump has celebrated ABC\u2019s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s late-night show following controversy over comments…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-146099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}