Following pressure from Federal Communications Commission, ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show off the air Wednesday night over remarks he made following the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk.
Kimmel, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, touched on Kirk’s shooter in his monologue Monday night, saying, “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.”
Brendan Carr, the chairman of the FCC, called Kimmel’s remarks “the sickest conduct possible” in an interview with conservative podcaster Benny Johnson Wednesday afternoon. Carr also threatened to yank ABC’s broadcast license from parent company Disney.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take actions on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Carr also encouraged local media companies to “push back” against networks like Disney. Hours later, two local TV owners — Nexstar and Sinclair — announced they would preempt Kimmel’s show on their stations, forcing ABC’s hand.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live will be preempted indefinitely,” an ABC spokesperson said. Kimmel, who was preparing to film Wednesday’s show when news of his suspension was announced, had not publicly commented.
Both Trump and Carr celebrated the unprecedented move Wednesday night. “Great News for America,” Trump proclaimed on his Truth Social platform, while Carr told Fox News host Sean Hannity, “I’m very glad to see that American broadcasters are standing up to serve the interests of their community. We don’t just have this progressive foie gras coming out from New York and Hollywood”
FCC commissioner Anna Gomez criticized the move, writing on social media an “inexcusable act of political violence by one disturbed individual must never be exploited as justification for broader censorship and control.”
“This administration is increasingly using the weight of government power to suppress lawful expression,” Gomez added.
Here are the latest updates:
ABC hopes to bring back Jimmy Kimmel’s show soon
While ABC made the abrupt decision to yank Kimmel’s show off the air, the network reportedly hopes to get their top comedian back on TV soon.
The Wall Street Journal reported Disney is monitoring the situation and could return the show to its lineup within “the next several days.”
The soonest he’ll be back is Monday. ABC replaced Jimmy Kimmel Live in its lineup with reruns of Celebrity Wheel of Fortune through Friday.
The decision to pull Kimmel was made by Disney CEO Robert A. Iger and co-chair Dana Walden, according to the New York Times.
Kimmel has hosted his show on ABC since 2003. His current contract runs through May 2026.
Could Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers be next?
If Trump has his way, two more comedians could also soon be forced off the air.
In a social media post celebrating Kimmel’s suspension, Trump pushed NBC to take The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon and Late Night host Seth Meyers off the air.
“That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!” Trump wrote.
Meyers has been critical of the Trump administration, more in line with Stephen Colbert and Kimmel. Fallon has largely stayed away from politics.
NBC has not publicly responded to Trump’s remarks.
Nexstar is seeking approval from the Trump administration
Nexstar’s decision to preempt Kimmel’s show comes as the company needs approval from the Trump administration for a merger with Tenga, another local media company.
The $6.2 billion merger requires the approval of the same FCC that celebrated Nexstar’s decision to punish a Trump foe. The circumstances are similar to CBS’ decision to end Colbert’s late night show while its parent company, Paramount Global, was seeking FCC approval for a sale to Skydance Media.
Nexstar currently owns 23 ABC-affiliated stations, including two in Pennsylvania — WHTM-TV in Harrisburg and WJET-TV in Erie. Tenga owns 13 ABC-affiliated station, including WNEP-TV in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre.
Just half an hour after Nexstar pulled Kimmel’s show, it confirmed plans to file their merger paperwork to the FCC by Sept. 30.
Broadcast TV is different from cable
Both ABC and Fox News are included on your cable bill, but the two channels are treated much differently by the government.
There are five commercial broadcast networks in the U.S.: ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and The CW. PBS is a non-commercial education station, while there are three Spanish networks: Telemundo, Univision, and Estrella TV.
The FCC grants the network’s owners a license to air content over publicly-owned airwaves, which is why they’re free to watch for users with a digital antenna. But that also grants the government power to regulate the content which airs on those networks under a mandate to operate in the public interest.
The Trump administration has used that power to pressure companies over content it views as critical of the president. In December, CBS agreed to a $15 million settlement with Trump over comments made by anchor George Stephanopoulos.
The FCC announced a probe of 60 Minutes over how it edited an interview with Kamala Harris around the same time Trump sued CBS, though Carr said in an interview in May the two were unrelated.