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The late-night show of television host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel was pulled from the air indefinitely due to his comments about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk during a public event in Utah (USA).
Nexstar Media Group announced this Wednesday that its ABC-affiliated stations would "preempt 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' for the foreseeable future starting with tonight's show." "Kimmel's comments about Kirk's death are offensive and insensitive at a critical moment in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities where we are located," stated Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar's broadcasting division.
"Giving Kimmel a platform for dissemination in the communities we serve simply does not serve the public interest at this time, and we have made the difficult decision to interrupt his program so that serenity may prevail as we move towards the resumption of a respectful and constructive dialogue," Alford stated.
Subsequently, an ABC spokesperson confirmed that "'Jimmy Kimmel Live' will be canceled indefinitely", without specifying if the program —which has been part of the network's programming since 2003— will return or when. The announcement came hours after the director of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) suggested that ABC's broadcast license, a subsidiary of Disney, was at risk due to Kimmel's comments.
The CRR president, Brendan Carr, called the presenter's statements "sickening" and that there were "solid arguments" to take action against ABC and Disney. "These companies can find ways to take action against Kimmel, or the FCC will have to take on more work ahead," he maintained.
What did Kimmel say?
In his opening monologue on Monday night's show, Kimmel suggested that Tyler Robinson, the man accused of killing Kirk, was aligned with the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement of US President Donald Trump, and accused the president's allies of "profiting" from what happened. "The MAGA gang is desperately trying to characterize the guy who murdered Charlie Kirk as something other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points with it," Kimmel said, also mocking Trump's reaction to Kirk's death. "That's not how an adult mourns the death of someone they considered a friend. That's how a 4-year-old cries because their fish died," he stated.
In his opening monologue on Monday night's show, Kimmel suggested that Tyler Robinson, the man accused of killing Kirk, was aligned with the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement of US President Donald Trump, and accused the president's allies of "profiting" from what happened. "The MAGA gang is desperately trying to characterize the guy who murdered Charlie Kirk as something other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points with it," Kimmel said, also mocking Trump's reaction to Kirk's death. "That's not how an adult mourns the death of someone they considered a friend. That's how a 4-year-old cries because their fish died," he stated.
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Trump was quick to react to the cancellation of the program, claiming that Kimmel has "low ratings" and possesses "not an ounce of talent." "Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what needed to be done," he concluded. Charlie Kirk was hit in the neck by a bullet on September 10th during a question and answer session with students at Utah Valley University. The attacker shot from the roof of a nearby building. The FBI declared that it was a "targeted attack". By: RT
