According to a report from TMZ, Disney‘s ABC – the network airing “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” – is suspending the host over his comments about Kirk. A memo published by Nexstar partially confirmed TMZ’s report, saying Kimmel’s show will be pulled “for the foreseeable future.” According to Nexstar’s memo, the TV company’s ABC-affiliate stations will be ordered to “preempt” Kimmel’s late-night show. “Nexstar strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC- affiliated markets,” Nexstar’s Sept. 17 memo read. During the Monday, Sept. 16 broadcast of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” the host accused the GOP of hitting “new lows” regarding how the party reacted to Kirk’s death. “MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them,” Kimmel said earlier in the week. “Everything they can to score political points from it. In between the finger-pointing, there was 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 then mocked President Donald Trump’s reaction to Kirk’s death, who was the one announcing the conservative activist’s death to the nation. “[Trump is] at the fourth stage of grief: construction, demolition, construction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish,” Kimmel said during Monday’s show.
Below is a partial statement released by Nexstar’s president of the broadcast division, Andrew Alford:
“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.”
