Jimmy Kimmel Speaks Out After ABC Suspension Over Charlie Kirk Comments  UK Media
Jimmy Kimmel Speaks Out After ABC Suspension Over Charlie Kirk Comments  UK Media
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Jimmy Kimmel Speaks Out After ABC Suspension Over Charlie Kirk Comments UK Media

Li Zhou,Sara Boboltz 🕒︎ 2025-10-21

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Jimmy Kimmel Speaks Out After ABC Suspension Over Charlie Kirk Comments  UK Media

Jimmy Kimmel opened his eponymous show Tuesday night after six days of public outcry over ABC’s decision to put it on indefinite hiatus over comments the host made last week about Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer. Kimmel addressed his remarks about Kirk while calling out the need to defend free speech in the U.S. “I want to make something clear, because it’s important to me as a human, and that is ― you understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man,” Kimmel said tearfully. “I don’t think there’s anything funny about it. I posted a message on Instagram on the day he was killed sending love to his family and asking for compassion and I meant it. And I still do. Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions ― it was a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make.” Kimmel went on to denounce threats made by Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr to Disney, calling efforts to curb speech “un-American” and “dangerous.” “Our freedom to speak is what they admire most about this country. And that’s something I’m embarrassed to say I took for granted until they pulled my friend Stephen off the air and tried to coerce the affiliates who run our show in the cities that you live in to take my show off the air. That’s not legal, that’s not American. That is un-American. And it’s so dangerous,” he said. Last Monday, Kimmel criticized prominent Republicans’ reactions to suspect Tyler Robinson’s lack of clear political affiliations. Kirk, a conservative activist, was gunned down during an event on a college campus in Utah earlier this month. Carr threatened to use his agency to retaliate against Disney, which owns ABC, if the company took no action. The decision to pull “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air was met with shock and concern for the future of free speech protections in the United States. Some cancelled their Disney or ABC streaming subscriptions in protest. Disney’s stock price dropped. Condemnation came even from some Republicans, who pointed out that censorship could come back to bite conservatives if a future Democratic administration chose to weaponize federal regulators in a similar way. Disney announced Kimmel’s return on Monday. The company said in a statement that its leadership had engaged in “thoughtful conversations” with the host. Without mentioning the precise comments of Kimmel’s that leadership felt to be “ill-timed and thus insensitive,” Disney said that the suspension had occurred “to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country.” Kimmel had touched on Kirk’s death during his monologue last week. “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,” he told his audience. Carr subsequently attacked Kimmel on a right-wing podcast hosted by political commentator Benny Johnson, claiming that Kimmel was part of a “concerted effort to lie to the American people.” “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead,” Carr said. Broadcast networks Nexstar and Sinclair announced they would be airing other content in Kimmel’s usual spot for the foreseeable future, while ABC said it was putting the show on hiatus. The debacle appeared to make Kimmel the second late night host to face repercussions for speaking negatively about President Donald Trump and his allies. “The Late Show,” which Trump critic Stephen Colbert has hosted since 2015, will end next year after a three-decade run.

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