NEW YORK — Jimmy Kimmel’s television future hung in the balance Thursday after ABC suspended his late-night show following the host’s comments about Charlie Kirk’s killing, which prompted dozens of stations to say they wouldn’t air the show, a move that was cheered on by a top federal regulator.
The veteran late-night comic made several remarks on Monday and Tuesday about the reaction to the conservative activist’s assassination, including saying that “many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk.”
ABC, which has aired “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” since 2003, moved swiftly after Nexstar Communications Group said it would pull the show starting Wednesday. Kimmel’s comments about Kirk’s death were “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse,” said Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division. Nexstar operates 28 ABC affiliates.
Another company that owns 38 local television stations, Sinclair Broadcast Group, called on Kimmel to apologize to Kirk’s family and make a “meaningful personal donation” to the activist’s political organization, Turning Point USA. Sinclair said its ABC stations will air a tribute to Kirk on Friday in Kimmel’s time slot.
In an appearance on CNBC Thursday, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr cheered the moves by the two affiliate groups. While the Federal Communications Commission does not have power over the television networks, it does have the authority to suspend the licenses of their individual stations in local markets.
“We’re reinvigorating the FCC’s enforcement of the public interest,” Carr said, “and I think that’s a good thing.”
There was no immediate comment from Kimmel, whose contract is up in May 2026. ABC’s statement did not cite a reason for why his show was preempted.
President Donald Trump celebrated ABC’s move on social media. “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done,” he wrote.
Carr on Wednesday called Kimmel’s comments “truly sick” and claimed his agency has a strong case for holding Kimmel, ABC and network parent Walt Disney Co. accountable for spreading misinformation. He said the comic appeared to be making an intentional effort to mislead the public that Kirk’s assassin was a right-wing Trump supporter.
During his Monday evening monologue, Kimmel suggested that the man charged in Kirk’s killing, Tyler Robinson, might have been a pro-Trump Republican.
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“The MAGA Gang (is) 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. “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”
Authorities say the 22-year-old grew up in a conservative household in southern Utah but was enmeshed in “leftist ideology.” His parents told investigators he turned politically left and pro-LGBTQ rights in the last year. His voter status is inactive, meaning he did not vote in two regular general elections. He told his transgender partner that he targeted Kirk because he “had enough of his hatred.”
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Both Disney and Nexstar have FCC business ahead of them. Disney seeks regulatory approval for ESPN’s acquisition of the NFL Network, and Nexstar needs the Trump administration’s blessing to complete its $6.2 billion purchase of broadcast rival Tegna.
For both companies, reinstating Kimmel after a suspension would risk the ire of Trump, who already claimed the show was canceled.
Kimmel’s suspension comes two months after CBS announced it will cancel Stephen Colbert’s late-night show next May for financial reasons. Some critics wondered if his criticism of Trump played a role.
Both Colbert and Kimmel have made the president the frequent target of jokes. Soon after the Colbert cancellation, the FCC approved CBS parent company Paramount’s long-pending deal with Skydance.
Trump similarly celebrated Colbert’s impending exit.
“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” Trump said in July. “His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next.”
Within the past year, both Disney and CBS parent Paramount chose to settle lawsuits brought by Trump against their news divisions rather than fight it out in court.
In a post on social media, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez criticized the administration for “using the weight of government power to suppress lawful expression.”
“Another media outlet withered under government pressure, ensuring that the administration will continue to extort and exact retribution on broadcasters and publishers who criticize it,” said Ari Cohn, lead counsel for technology policy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. “We cannot be a country where late-night talk show hosts serve at the pleasure of the president.”
What Kimmel said
Kimmel said Trump’s response to Kirk’s death “is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish, OK?”
He also said that FBI chief Kash Patel handled the investigation into the killing “like a kid who didn’t read the book, BSing his way through an oral report.”
He returned to the topic Tuesday night, mocking Vice President JD Vance’s performance as guest host for Kirk’s podcast.
He said Trump was “fanning the flames” by attacking people on the left. “Which is it? Are they a bunch of sissy pickleball players because they’re too scared to be hit by tennis balls? Or a well-organized deadly team of commandos? Because they can’t be both of those things.”
The move comes as the president, his administration and political party have stepped up their effort to police speech about Kirk’s death. Vance week urged Americans to turn in fellow citizens who joked about the killing.
It is also the latest effort by the administration to use its power to lean on the media. Carr launched investigations of outlets that angered Trump, and the president sued media organizations for negative coverage.
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