‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ Suspended by ABC Over Charlie Kirk Controversy

Update (7:05 p.m. ET): ABC has suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! in the wake of an affiliate owner’s decision to preempt airings of the late-night talk show in the wake of host Jimmy Kimmel’s comments on the death of Charlie Kirk.

In a statement, the network said the show would be, “pre-empted indefinitely.”

The news comes after Nexstar, an affiliate-owning network with dozens of local ABC channels, announced its intention to preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! episodes beginning with Wednesday (September 17) night.

Kimmel’s comments were also criticized by Brendan Carr, chair of the Federal Communications Commission, who threatened to take action against ABC affiliates over the host’s words, saying on a podcast that it “appears to be an action by Jimmy Kimmel to play into the narrative that this [shooter] was somehow a MAGA or Republican-motivated person. What people don’t understand is that the broadcasters … have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest. When we see stuff like this, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

Original Story (6:37 p.m. ET): Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be disappearing from some audiences’ local stations, effective immediately.

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. announced on Wednesday (September 17) that the company would be preempting the late-night talk show on its ABC affiliate networks in response to host Jimmy Kimmel’s recent comments about the death of Charlie Kirk, “for the foreseeable future, beginning with tonight’s 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,” the company revealed in a press release.

In a statement, the company’s president, Andrew Alford, said, “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.”

Kirk, a prominent conservative activist, was murdered last week while speaking at an open forum event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, as part of his campus tour initiative.

On his Tuesday, September 16 show, Kimmel said, “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.”

Previously, on his September 15 show, Kimmel criticized Donald Trump‘s response to the Kirk, after he fielded a question about Kirk and began talking about his reconstruction of the White House ballroom: “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, okay?” Kimmel said. “There’s something wrong with him, there really is. I mean, who thinks like that?”

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Jimmy Kimmel Reacts to Trump's Strange Way of Grieving Charlie Kirk

On his September 11 show, Kimmel slammed Trump for failing to call for unity in the wake of Kirk’s death, saying, “With all these terrible things happening, you would think that our President would at least make an attempt to bring us together, but he didn’t. President Obama did. President Biden did. Presidents Bush and Clinton did. President Trump did not. Instead, he blamed Democrats for their rhetoric.”

Kimmel previously addressed the shooting of Kirk on Instagram, writing, “Can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human? On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents, and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.”

Nexstar owns more than 200 stations in 116 markets in the U.S.

ABC affiliate stations that are owned by Nexstar include:

Albany, NY (WTEN)
Augusta, GA (WJBF)
Billings, MT (KSVI)
Binghamton, NY (WIVT/WBGH-CD)
Burlington, VT (WVNY)
Clarksburg/Weston, WV (WBOY)
Dothan, AL (WDHN)
Erie, PA (WJET)
Evansville, IN (WEHT)
Grand Rapids, MI (WOTV)
Harrisburg, PA (WHTM)
Hartford/New Haven, CT (WTNH)
Knoxville, TN (WATE)
Lansing, MI (WLAJ)
Lubbock, TX (KAMC)
Midland/Odessa, TX (KMID)
Nashville, TN (WKRN)
New Orleans, LA (WGNO)
Panama City, FL (WMBB)
Richmond, VA (WRIC)
Rockford, IL (WTVO)
Salt Lake City, UT (KTVX)
Sioux City, IA (KCAU)
Syracuse, NY (WSYR)
Terre Haute, IN (WAWV)
Topeka, KS (KTKA)
Tri-Cities, TN-VA (WJHL)
Utica, NY (WUTR)
Watertown, NY (WWTI)
Wheeling WV-Steubenville, OH (WTRF)
Youngstown, OH (WYTV)