SMG News Wire
ABC confirmed Wednesday that the popular late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” has been “pre-empted indefinitely” following comments Kimmel made on the show in response to the shooting death of conservative leader Charlie Kirk.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live will be pre-empted indefinitely,” an ABC spokesperson told CBS News in a statement. There was no word on if or when the show may return.
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Kimmel said during his Monday night monologue that Kirk had been killed by a MAGA supporter. In fact, the accused assassin hated Kirk and was not a conservative.
“We hit 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 doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said.
ABC’s announcement came after media giant Nexstar announced in a news release that it would preempt Kimmel’s show indefinitely on all its stations over Kimmel’s remarks.
“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 do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located,” said Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, in a statement.
Nexstar owns and operates more than 200 stations nationwide. It’s unclear how many of those are ABC affiliates.
“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,” the company added.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr leveled a direct threat against ABC earlier in the day on the Benny Johnson podcast.
“And I’ve been very clear from the moment that I have become chairman of the FCC, I want to reinvigorate the public interest. And what people don’t understand is that the broadcasters, and you’ve gotten this right, are entirely different than people that use other forms of communication. They have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest,” the official added.
“Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Sinclair Broadcast Group, which operates 30 ABC affiliates, announced Wednesday it would air a special “in remembrance of Charlie Kirk” after Disney decided to pull “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” indefinitely. They said suspending the show is not good enough.
“Mr. Kimmel’s remarks were inappropriate and deeply insensitive at a critical moment for our country,” Sinclair vice chairman Jason Smith said in a statement. “We believe broadcasters have a responsibility to educate and elevate respectful, constructive dialogue in our communities. We appreciate FCC Chairman Carr’s remarks today and this incident highlights the critical need for the FCC to take immediate regulatory action to address control held over local broadcasters by the big national networks.”
Critics accused the White House of declaring war on the First Amendment and Kimmel is reportedly enraged.
“This is a red line that has been crossed for our industry. For the First Amendment, for the right of people to speak,” said Van Jones on CNN. “There was nothing hateful about what was said.”
Erin Burnett added, “The job should be to speak truth to power, even when there are people who don‘t like the word truth anymore.”
“This is all about public pressure,” said CNN’s Brian Stelter. “It’s about the public noise. It’s about the shame and embarrassment.”
“If big old-fashioned, mainstream media companies don’t have the guts to employ these people, we’re going to see start-ups start to flourish.”
Conservatives, however, were thrilled with the network’s decision to cancel the far-left, anti-Trump talk host.
“Jimmy Kimmel’s career just got assassinated,” wrote Laura Loomer on X. “Who is laughing now?”
Let’s be clear – President Trump has not declared war on the First Amendment. Kimmel still has every right to spew unfunny insults at President Trump on Reddit or Bluesky or in a dive bar, but ABC is under no constitutional obligation to pay him a single penny.
Kimmel’s jokes were falling flat and so was his audience. His ratings were in the tank and that’s why ABC pulled the plug. He did not offend their sensibilities. He offended their bottom line.
There’s no doubt it, folks. President Trump is making late night television great again.
Reporting from CBS News
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