ABC will pull “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” indefinitely over recent comments by the late night host about Charlie Kirk’s death.
Kimmel knocked Republicans in his Monday monologue over trying to politicize Kirk’s death after they speculated over the weekend about Kirk’s alleged gunman Tyler Robinson’s political affiliations.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said.
Authorities have since said that Robinson’s political beliefs were largely in line with leftist causes, prompting conservative media to attack Kimmel.
On Wednesday, Nexstar Media Group, which has more than 200 owned or partner stations in 116 U.S. markets reaching 220 million people, said it would preempt the late night show’s broadcast indefinitely, calling Kimmel’s remarks “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse.”
“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 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.”
Nexstar’s comments as the company agreed to acquired Tegna for $6.2 billion, including debt and estimated transaction fees and expenses, which is expected to close by the second half of 2026, subject to Tegna shareholder and regulatory approvals.
Shortly after, ABC took matters into its own hands, with a network spokesperson telling TheWrap the show’s broadcast would be “pre-empted indefinitely.”
Personal representatives for Kimmel and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.
Kimmel has frequently been a target of President Donald Trump, who previously suggested he would be “next up” after CBS announced that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will end in May 2026.
Colbert’s cancellation came amidst the FCC’s lengthy review of Paramount and Skydance’s $8 billion merger, which officially closed in August. CBS has argued the move was “purely financial” and Skydance has said it was “not involved” in the decision.
When asked by podcaster Benny Johnson about whether Kimmel’s remarks could fuel action by the FCC, chairman Brendan Carr said the agency has “remedies we can look at” and that it can “do this the easy way or the hard way.”
“These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead,” he said.
Carr said Kimmel’s comments were “some of the sickest conduct possible” and urged companies like Disney, which owns ABC, and Comcast, which owns NBC and Kimmel competitor “The Tonight Show,” to either take action or risk a federal probe into violations of the FCC’s public-interest guidelines, which could result in suspension of broadcast licenses.
“I think it’s past time that a lot of these licensed broadcasters themselves push back on Comcast and Disney, and say ’We are going to preempt — we are not going to run Kimmel anymore until you straighten this out,’” Carr said. “It’s time for them to step up and say this garbage — to the extent that that’s what comes down the pipe in the future — isn’t something that serves the needs of our local communities.”
