Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy shared his take on Disney’s ABC indefinitely pulling “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air after pressure from the Federal Communications Commission.
During his monologue Monday night, Kimmel criticized some in President Donald Trump’s base over its reaction to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot while speaking during an event at Utah Valley University last week. He also suggested that the suspect in the Turning Point USA co-founder’s killing — 22-year-old Tyler Robinson of Utah — might have been pro-Trump or Republican.
“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.
ABC announced it would suspend the show beginning Wednesday — hours after FCC chair Brendan Carr told right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson that there was a “strong case” for action over Kimmel’s comments.
“This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney,” Carr said. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
Portnoy weighed in on Kimmel’s late-night show, which has aired on the network since 2003, being “canned” in a post on X late Wednesday.
“I’m seeing lots of people talking about the hypocrisy of cancel culture. To me Cancel culture is when people go out of their way to dig up old tweets, videos etc looking for dirt on somebody they don’t like in an effort to get them fired,” Portnoy said.
“Like if Kimmel got canceled for s— he did on the Man Show that would be cancel culture. But when a person says something that a ton of people find offensive, rude, dumb in real time and then that person is punished for it that’s not cancel culture,” he continued, adding, “That is consequences for your actions.”
His post was met with harsh words from critics and friends.
“Portnoy is missing the point here,” Democratic strategist Mike Nellis wrote. “If ABC, as Kimmel’s employer, had an issue with what he said, that’s one thing—but Trump and the FCC threatened to revoke their license if they didn’t suspend him. That’s what I’m upset about. It’s an abuse of power, and if it happened to a conservative voice, they’d be screaming to high heaven about it.”
Kirk Minihane, who hosts the Barstool Sports podcast “The Kirk Minihane Show,” posted the word “Nope” in response to Portnoy.
Progressive commentator Brian Tyler Cohen also chimed in: “If Biden’s FCC went after Barstool and someone made this exact argument to you, you would lose your mind.”
“I’ve seen goal posts carried out of college stadiums and thrown in rivers miles away that have moved less than this,” one user joked.
Media personality Blind Mike wrote, “This is f—— nuts.”
“This person appears on Fox and Fox Sports 6 days a week,” a different user said, attaching a screenshot of Portnoy’s previous comments about climate activist Greta Thunberg, in which he said, “I hope they hit a f—— like a missile on her boat.”
Robinson’s parents told investigators that he had turned politically left in the last year. Authorities say he grew up in a conservative household. His voter status, though, is inactive, which suggests he did not vote in the two regular general elections.
According to investigators, Robinson told his transgender partner that he specifically targeted Kirk because he “had enough of his hatred.”
As the abrupt move prompted a firestorm on social media, Trump celebrated the news of the late-night show’s suspension Wednesday night in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible,” he said, referring to CBS’s Stephen Colbert of “The Late Show,” whose show is set to end in May 2026.