Jimmy Kimmel taken off air over Charlie Kirk comments

ABC has pulled late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off air indefinitely over comments he made about the shooting of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk.

“Jimmy Kimmel Live will be pre-empted indefinitely,” a spokesperson for the Disney-owned network said in a statement to the BBC.

On Monday night’s monologue, Kimmel said the “MAGA gang” was trying to score political points off Kirk’s murder.

On Tuesday, a 22-year-old suspect appeared in court charged with aggravated murder over last Wednesday’s shooting of the 31-year-old conservative influencer. Representatives for Kimmel did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Kimmel said in his Monday night monologue: “The Maga Gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

The late-night host, who has frequently been in the crosshairs of US President Donald Trump, also criticised flags being flown at half staff in honour of Kirk, and mocked the president’s reaction to the shooting.

He spliced a clip of the president speaking with reporters about his reaction to Kirk’s death, and redirecting to talk about a ballroom being built at the White House.

“He’s at the fourth stage of grief,” Kimmel said. “Construction. It’s demolition, construction.

“This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he calls a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a gold fish.”

Also on Wednesday, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Brendan Carr, said on a podcast that Kimmel’s remarks showed “the sickest conduct possible” as he urged Disney to take action.

“[Broadcasters] have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest,” said Carr, a Trump-appointee.

“Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead,” Carr told the Benny Show.

He noted that an apology from Kimmel would be a “very reasonable, minimal step”.

The ABC announcement came just after one of the biggest owners of TV stations in the US, Nexstar Media, said it would not air Jimmy Kimmel Live! “for the foreseeable future beginning with tonight’s show”.

Nexstar said on Wednesday evening that the comedian’s remarks about Kirk “are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse”.

“[W]e do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located,” said Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division.

“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.”