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Jimmy Kimmel’s show has been taken off the air indefinitely by ABC following comments he made in the aftermath of the killing of Charlie Kirk.
“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,” Kimmel said in a monologue on Monday.
He then played a clip of US president Donald Trump being asked by a reporter about the death of Kirk and responding by talking about the construction of the new White House ballroom, with Kimmel adding, “This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend, this is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.”
Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr told right-wing podcast host Benny Johnson on Wednesday that the FCC could revoke ABC affiliates’ licenses as a way to force Disney—ABC’s parent company—to punish Kimmel.
After Kimmel was taken off air, Trump celebrated in a post on his Truth Social account, describing it as “Great News [sic] for America,” and hinting that fellow late night talk show hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers should next face similar censure.
“The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED,” the post continued, “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. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!”
For more on Carr’s role at the FCC, tap the link in bio.
Transcript
Remember that Elon Musk said this. It's like nothing's funny. You can't make fun of anything. It's like legalized comedy. Yeah. That was seven months ago, and today things are looking very different. On Wednesday, Disney owned ABC announced that it was indefinitely suspending Jimmy Kimmel's show in light of remarks he made after the killing of Charlie Kirk. The suspension came after Nexstar and Sinclair, owners of ABC affiliate stations, said they wouldn't distribute the show. Sinclair reacted to the suspension by calling on Kimmel to apologize to Kirk's family and donate to his right wing organization, Turning Point USA. Both Nexstar and Sinclair are currently chasing mergers that require government approval. If you're wondering what the regulator, the Federal Communications Commission, was doing in all this, its Trump appointed chair, Brendan Carr, tweeted his thanks to both Nexstar and Sinclair following the suspension. Carr previously appeared on mega influencer, Betty Johnson's podcast, where he threatened the broadcaster's licenses if action was not taken. All this comes two months after CBS announced that Tier Late Show with Stephen Colbert would be canceled after Colbert's contract expires next year. CBS said that the decision was purely financial, but at the time it was made, its parent company, Paramount, was trying to close a now approved merger with Sky Dance Media. It also followed CBS and Paramount agreeing to settle a $16,000,000 lawsuit with Trump in what Colbert described as a big fat fry. After the end of his show was announced, Colbert told Trump no fuck yourself on air. Both of these decisions were treated with delight by Trump, who seems to now have Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon in his sights according to a post on Truth Social. So if a Republican administration is gleefully celebrating the cancellation of of comedians better against a backdrop where people are being doxxed and fired for posting critically about Kirk, how does that make sense when
