Jimmy Kimmel Live will not be airing on ABC following the host’s comments regarding the murder of Charlie Kirk, the network announced.
Nexstar Media Group, which owns America’s largest television broadcasting group, announced Wednesday that it would preempt the show on its ABC channels starting immediately. Other programming will air in place of Jimmy Kimmel Live “for the foreseeable future.”
A statement issued to Fox New Digital explains the decision, saying:
“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,” Nexstar’s broadcasting chief Andrew Alford said in a press release.
“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.”
A source close to Kimmel reported to CNBC that he is not fired and that ABC’s parent company, Disney, is going to meet with him to discuss how she should approach the topic when he returns to the air.
What Did Jimmy Kimmel Say About Charlie Kirk’s Death?
In comments made on Monday, Jimmy Kimmel made accusations that political conservatives were trying to spin that suspect Tyler Robinson’s motives for shooting Kirk came from left-wing ideology.
“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,” Kimmel said.
This is a developing story.
