ABC has put Jimmy Kimmel Live! on hold after its host, Jimmy Kimmel, made controversial comments during his Monday night monologue. The remarks concerned the recent assassination of conservative activist and podcaster Charlie Kirk, who was killed last week during a public debate in Utah.
The network announced that Kimmel’s show would be taken off air indefinitely. This decision followed an announcement from Nexstar, a company owning 28 ABC affiliate stations nationwide, stating their intention to halt broadcasts of the series immediately, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
The Hollywood Reporter also mentioned that other television groups were reportedly upset by Kimmel’s comments, leading ABC to worry about a potential backlash from its affiliates.
During his monologue on Monday’s episode, Kimmel stated: “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.”
Andrew Alford, President of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, released a statement on Wednesday, clarifying the company’s decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live!, explaining:
“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. …
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.”
Kimmel’s comments also drew criticism from Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair Brendan Carr, an appointee from the Trump Administration. On a podcast, Carr even implied that ABC and its affiliate stations could risk losing their broadcast licenses due to the incident.
The Hollywood Reporter highlighted that Nexstar’s decision to preempt the show comes at a sensitive time, as the broadcasting company is currently awaiting FCC approval for its massive $6.2 billion acquisition of TEGNA.
This suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! follows closely after Comedy Central opted to pull a scheduled rerun of a recent South Park episode. That particular episode had parodied Charlie Kirk, but it originally aired before his assassination.
Editor’s note: The original version of this article mistakenly said Kimmel’s comments were made on the Tuesday broadcast. They were made during Monday’s episode. We regret the error.