Everything To Know About Jimmy Kimmel Being Taken Off Air By Disney After Charlie Kirk Monologue

Comedian and late-night show host Jimmy Kimmel has been removed from the air by ABC after the Trump administration and many of its followers objected to comments he made about the MAGA movement in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s killing. The removal appears to be tied to government scrutiny and business interests, with many calling out the administration and ABC for censorship and infringement upon free speech.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that Jimmy Kimmel Live! has been pulled from the air “indefinitely.” Anonymous sources indicated to The New York Times that Robert Iger, chief executive of ABC’s parent company Disney, and Dana Walden, Disney’s television chief, made the decision to suspend the show. Although Disney and ABC did not publicly comment on the reasoning for Kimmel’s suspension, it appears to be in reaction to conservative outrage over Kimmel’s comments relating to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. In his monologue Monday night, Kimmel criticized President Donald Trump for answering a question about Kirk with a boast about the new White House ballroom and called out “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.”

Government and corporate pressure led up to Disney benching Kimmel

Kimmel’s comments drew criticism not only from conservatives online but also from the Trump administration. On Wednesday, FCC Chair Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, threatened FCC action against Kimmel and urged Disney to take Kimmel off the air. “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.” Carr said on The Benny Show. “Frankly, I think that it’s really sort of past time that a lot of these licensed broadcasters themselves push back on Comcast and Disney and say, ‘Listen, we are going to pre-empt, we are not going to run Kimmel anymore until you straighten this out.”

Shortly after this, Nexstar — a company which owns various ABC affiliates and which is seeking FCC approval for a $6 billion acquisition of another company — announced that its stations would refuse to broadcast Kimmel’s show “for the foreseeable future” over its objections to his comments about Kirk. Sinclair Broadcasting Group, the largest of the ABC affiliate companies, also announced it was preempting the Kimmel show, calling on the host to apologize to the Kirk family, and calling on ABC to make a “meaningful donation” to the Kirk family and to Turning Point USA, the organization that Kirk founded. These decisions reportedly pressured Disney to take Kimmel off the air; Disney also needs the Trump administration’s approval for a deal it is making concerning the NFL Network.

Trump suggests more late-night hosts may be targeted

The apparent influence that the Trump administration played in Kimmel’s removal is leading many on the left and some on the right to complain of censorship. Trump himself took to social media to celebrate Kimmel being “CANCELED” and suggested that NBC late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers may be future targets. “Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible,” Trump posted, making a reference to the canceling of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert by CBS, a move that many viewed as backlash for Colbert’s criticism of Trump. The president continued, “That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!! President DJT,” the president continued.

With the cancellation of Colbert’s show and the suspension against Kimmel, it appears that critics of the Trump administration are being silenced across late-night television. Alongside events like the firing of Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah over posts critical of conservatives, a disturbing trend is emerging by which major media companies are censoring their own voices over criticism of Trump and his supporters.