Jimmy Kimmel Pulled Off Air After Criticizing Trump Over Charlie Kirk Assassination
Jimmy Kimmel used his late-night show Monday to slam Donald Trump and his allies for how they responded to the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
The next day, ABC announced that Jimmy Kimmel Live! would be taken off the air indefinitely.
Trump quickly claimed Kimmel wasn’t taken down for politics but because of “bad ratings.” Speaking at a press conference, Trump said:
“Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings, more than anything else. He also said a horrible thing about a great gentleman, Charlie Kirk. Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person. He should have been fired a long time ago.”
In reality, Nielsen ratings show Kimmel averaged about 1.57 million viewers per episode last season, and his YouTube channel has nearly 21 million subscribers.
What Kimmel Said
On his show Monday night, Kimmel accused Trump and his supporters of twisting Kirk’s assassination for political gain:
“The MAGA gang is desperately trying to paint the kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and they’re doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
He also mocked Trump’s reaction, saying:
“This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he calls a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.”
Backlash and Free Speech Concerns
Disney-owned ABC said the show was suspended immediately after Nexstar, which runs many ABC affiliates, announced it would no longer carry it. The move comes just months after CBS canceled Stephen Colbert’s late-night program, raising alarms about the state of free speech in America.
Former President Barack Obama blasted the decision on X (formerly Twitter), writing:
“After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by threatening media companies unless they silence voices it doesn’t like. This is exactly what the First Amendment was meant to prevent.”
Celebrities like Ben Stiller, Alison Brie, and Jean Smart also condemned the suspension, calling it “scary” and “not right.”
Political Pressure
The controversy escalated after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump ally, threatened Disney and ABC. In an interview, he said:
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
He later praised Nexstar for yanking the show, saying broadcasters need to “push back on Disney programming that falls short of community values.”
Democratic leaders including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accused Republicans of censoring Kimmel and undermining free speech.
What’s Next
Kimmel himself hasn’t commented publicly since the suspension. Both Disney and Nexstar currently need federal approval on major business deals, including Disney’s ESPN acquisition of NFL Network and Nexstar’s $6.2 billion takeover of Tegna—deals that may now be tangled in politics.
Meanwhile, Tyler Robinson, the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk, appeared in court Tuesday. Prosecutors say Robinson had expressed hostility toward Kirk and his role as a major voice in the MAGA movement.
