By Faye James
Copyright hellomagazine
Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show has been taken off the air “for the foreseeable future” following his comments on the death of Charlie Kirk, a conservative political commentator who was shot and killed during a speaking event in Utah on September 10. Jimmy Kimmel Live! has been a TV staple since 2003, with the comedian often sharing his candid thoughts on political issues. A spokesperson for Nexstar Media Group shared in a statement that Jimmy’s “offensive” remarks prompted the shocking move.
“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. “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 unexpected move comes after Jimmy spoke about Charlie’s alleged killer on the show, who Vice President J.D. Vance suggested had been indoctrinated by the political left. “While our side of the aisle certainly has its crazies, it is a statistical fact that most of the lunatics in American politics today are proud members of the far left,” the politician said on Charlie’s podcast, which he will host in his wake.
“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,” Jimmy said on Monday night’s show. He added that Donald Trump’s response to Charlie’s death was odd; when the President was asked his thoughts on the tragedy days later, he decided to discuss the White House ballroom construction instead.
“This is not how an adult grieves the murder of somebody he called a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish, okay?” the comedian quipped. Notably, the 57-year-old released a statement in the wake of Charlie’s death, calling out the violent act. “Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human?” Jimmy wrote on Instagram.
“On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.” His comments on Monday’s show sparked the ire of the Federal Communications Commission head, Brendan Carr, who appeared on the conservative podcast The Benny Show on Wednesday.
“When you look at the conduct that has taken place by Jimmy Kimmel, it appears to be some of the sickest conduct possible,” he said. “As you’ve indicated, there are avenues here for the FCC, so there…are some ways in which I need to be a little bit careful because we could be called ultimately to be a judge on some of these claims that come up.”
This decision comes after Stephen Colbert announced that his late-night show would be unexpectedly coming to an end. Paramount Global and CBS released a joint statement saying that the decision was “purely…financial against a challenging backdrop in late night” and it was “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
The news came shortly after Stephen called out his parent company for their $16 million settlement with the White House. Following the announcement, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission approved an $8 billion deal, which merged Paramount Global with Skydance Media and placed government conditions on the network’s news division. FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said that the conditions of the deal were a “never-before-seen form of government control over newsroom decisions and editorial judgment.”
