Jimmy Kimmel's Show Suspended By ABC Over Comments About Charlie Kirk

ABC on Wednesday suspended "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" following the late-night host's comments about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The move comes the same day Nexstar Media Group Inc. announced its ABC-affiliated stations would pre-empt the show starting Wednesday night for the foreseeable future due to the company's objection to Kimmel's comments about Kirk. Nexstar operates 23 ABC affiliates.

“Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located,” Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, said in a prepared statement.

“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.”

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During his monologue on Monday, Kimmel said, “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.

"In between the fingerpointing, there was, uh, grieving — on Friday, the White House flew the flags at half-staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level you can see how hard the president is taking this,” Kimmel said, before cutting to a clip where President Donald Trump responded to reporters asking about how he was doing by pointing to construction at the White House.

Authorities say Tyler Robinson, 22, who is charged with killing Kirk, grew up in a conservative household in southern Utah but was enmeshed in “leftist ideology.” His parents told investigators he had turned politically left and pro-LGBTQ rights in the last year. Utah records show he was registered as a voter, but not affiliated with either political party. His voter status is inactive, meaning he did not vote in two regular general elections. He told his transgender partner that he targeted Kirk because he “had enough of his hatred.”

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr thanked Nexstar in a post on X for its move to pre-empt the show.

"Local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest," Carr wrote. "While this may be an unprecedented decision, it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values. I hope that other broadcasters follow Nexstar’s lead."

Earlier Wednesday, conservative podcaster Benny Johnson posted an interview with Carr on X in which Carr described Kimmel's behavior as "some of the sickest conduct possible" and said it was "past time" for licensed broadcasters to push back and not run Kimmel's show.

"I mean, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way," Carr told Johnson. "These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead."

Trump celebrated ABC's move on the social media site Truth Social, writing: “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.”

He also targeted two other late-night hosts, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, and said they should be canceled too, calling them “two total losers.”

Kimmel’s contract is up at the end of next season, which ends in May 2026.

Kimmel, like CBS late-night host Stephen Colbert, has consistently been critical of Trump and many of his policies on his ABC show. CBS said this past summer that it was canceling Colbert's show at the end of this season for financial reasons, although some critics have wondered if his stance on Trump played a role.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.