The American Broadcasting Company is “indefinitely” pulling Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air following comments late night host Jimmy Kimmel made about Charlie Kirk’s death during an opening monologue.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be pre-empted indefinitely,” an ABC spokesperson said, per CNN.
The spokesperson confirmed the show will remain off air “for the foreseeable future”, adding that the company, which is owned by Disney, “strongly objects to recent comments made by Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk”.
The ABC said it will replace the show with “other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets”.
As for the cause of the indefinite break, it’s reported that during a taping of the show earlier this week, Kimmel — a long-running opponent of President Donald Trump — alleged that the lead suspect in Kirk’s murder was a MAGA supporter.
22-year-old Tyler Robinson was identified and arrested last week in relation to the shooting, which took place at Utah Valley University while Kirk, a prominent right-wing commentator, was hosting an event on campus.
“The 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,” Kimmel said during the monologue, per CNN.
“In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving,” he added.
Kimmel’s comments were met with fierce criticism from both the Federal Communications Commission and Nexstar, an affiliate group of the ABC.
FCC chairman Brendan Carr said Kimmel’s comments about Robinson constitute “the sickest conduct possible”, while Nexstar president Andrew Alford described the monologue as “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse”.
“Continuing to give 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,” Alford added.
While specific details around Robinson’s political affiliations are vague, it’s reported that he disagreed with his “diehard MAGA” father. In text message exchanges presented by prosecutors on Thursday, Robinson also expressed frustration around the “hatred” of far-right rhetoric.
Last week, the messages engraved on the bullet casings of the gun used to shoot Kirk were revealed, as eyewitnesses recounted the scene and the FBI shared CCTV images of the suspect.
Kimmel was one of multiple late night talk show hosts to address Kirk’s shooting, with Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers condemning political violence during their respective shows earlier this week.
Lead images: Phillip Faraone/Getty Images and YouTube
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