ABC Suspends ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ After Trump FCC Chair Threatens Network
Jimmy Kimmel Live on YouTube
ABC announced on Wednesday that it has suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! due to comments Jimmy Kimmel made after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The move came moments after Nexstar, which owns dozens of ABC affiliate stations across the country, said it would preempt the show “for the foreseeable future.”
Hours earlier, Federal Communications Chair Brendan Carr threatened ABC over comments Kimmel made about Kirk’s alleged assassin. Last month, President Donald Trump said that Kimmel and Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon would be canceled “next.”
During Monday’s edition of the show, Kimmel claimed that Tyler Robinson, who was charged on Tuesday with killing Kirk, was a right-winger. According to the charging documents, Robinson had accused Kirk of spreading hate.
“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,” Kimmel said.
Nexstar did not specify which remarks prompted the decision to preempt the show.
“Frankly, when you see stuff like this, I mean look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said on Wednesday. “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.”
Last month, Nexstar CEO Perry Sook praised the Trump administration after the company announced it was acquiring rival TEGNA as part of a $6.2 billion deal, which is pending approval from Carr’s FCC.
Nexstar also owns the cable news network NewsNation.
In July, CBS canceled The Late Show With Stephen Colbert just weeks after Paramount, the network’s parent company, paid President Donald Trump $16 million to settle a defamation lawsuit. Less than two weeks after Colbert’s cancellation, the FCC approved Paramount’s bid to merge with Skydance, a media company owned by David Ellison, who is also trying to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN, among other properties. Ellison’s father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, is currently seeking to acquire a controlling stake in TikTok, which would also require approval from the Trump administration. President Donald Trump himself is trying to broker the deal.
“We’ve got a deal on TikTok. I’ve reached a deal with China. I’m going to speak to President Xi [Jinping] on Friday to confirm everything,” Trump said on Tuesday.
