ABC Yanks Jimmy Kimmel Show Off the Air After Host Claims Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Is MAGA Extremist

ABC on Wednesday announced they were pulling Jimmy Kimmel off of his nightly late-night talk show “indefinitely” following his claim that the alleged killer of political activist Charlie Kirk is part of a “MAGA gang.”The network confirmed the decision in a statement to Deadline, saying “Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be preempted indefinitely.” The cancellation follows swift action by Nexstar Media Group, which pulled the show from its 200 affiliated stations across the country.“Nexstar’s owned and partner television stations affiliated with the ABC Television Network will preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the foreseeable future beginning with tonight’s show,” the company said Wednesday. “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 ousting stems from recent comments Mr. Kimmel made during his show. “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. In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”Kirk, a prominent MAGA activist, was fatally shot at Utah Valley University on September 10 in an assassination that has shocked both political and media circles.FCC Chairman Brendan Carr also issued warnings to ABC regarding Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the assassination suspect, suggesting his agency could move to revoke ABC affiliate licenses as a way to force Disney to punish the late-night host.“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Mr. Carr said Wednesday. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take actions on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”Mr. Kimmel, who has hosted “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” since 2003, has frequently been targeted by Mr. Trump, especially after it was announced that another late-night host, Stephen Colbert, was booted from his longtime perch at “The Late Show.”Following that show’s cancellation, the president took to Truth Social, saying “The word is, and it’s a strong word at that, Jimmy Kimmel is NEXT to go in the untalented Late Night Sweepstakes and, shortly thereafter, [Jimmy] Fallon will be gone.”“These are people with absolutely NO TALENT, who were paid Millions of Dollars for, in all cases, destroying what used to be GREAT Television,” Mr. Trump wrote. “It’s really good to see them go, and I hope I played a major part in it!”

ABC Yanks Jimmy Kimmel Show Off the Air After Host Claims Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Is MAGA Extremist

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