Jimmy Kimmel‘s late night talk show is being suspended by ABC over his viral comments about Charlie Kirk.
A network spokesperson said Wednesday that Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be “preempted indefinitely.”
The network’s action came just after Nexstar, one of the biggest owners of local TV stations in the country — including 28 ABC affiliates — said it will preempt the series for the immediate future. A source said that ABC had also heard from at least one other station group about the show, suggesting that an affiliate revolt may have played a role in the decision.
Brendan Carr threatening to take action against ABC affiliates in the wake of Kimmel suggesting the Kirk shooting suspect was a MAGA Republican during a monologue earlier this week.
A source tells The Hollywood Reporter Kimmel was prepared to address the backlash on Wednesday night’s show. He planned to explain what he said and demonstrate how it was taken out of context.
When asked by THR, the source said that Kimmel was not planning on apologizing. He felt that what he said did not require an apology.
“I want to thank Nexstar for doing the right thing,” Carr told THR. “Local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest. While this may be an unprecedented decision, it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values. I hope that other broadcasters follow Nexstar’s lead.”
Kimmel’s original comments were as follows: “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.”
Then on Wednesday, Carr went on a podcast where he slammed Kimmel and declared that affiliates should “push back” on ABC and say, in effect, “Listen, we’re not going to run Kimmel anymore until you straighten this out because we’re running the possibility of license revocation from the FCC if we continue to run content that ends up being a pattern of news distortion.”
Nexstar issued a statement late Wednesday they would not air tonight’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! and would preempt the show for the foreseeable future.
(Excerpt) Read more in: The Hollywood Reporter