President Trump has congratulated ABC for its cancellation of late night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” following backlash from comments made by Kimmel regarding the assassination of Charlie Kirk. On Wednesday evening, Disney announced the show would be suspended indefinitely. In response to the announcement from Disney, President Trump expressed his approval in a post on Truth Social.
“Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.” President Trump said.
On Monday, Kimmel made comments implying the suspect in the murder of Charlie Kirk was a Trump supporter and accused “MAGA” of trying to use the incident for political purposes.
“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.
In response to Kimmel’s comments, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr appeared on The Benny Johnson Show and stated broadcasters had an obligation to uphold the public interest. “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 said.
President Trump continued his post by criticizing Kimmel’s overall performance and point to the lackluster ratings of other late night talk shows. “Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!! President DJT,” Trump said.
Disney’s decision to suspend “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” followed an announcement from Nexstar Media Group that it would be removing the show from affiliate stations for the foreseeable future. Nexstar referred to Kimmel’s comments as “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse.”
Sinclair Inc., the largest ABC affiliate, also weighed in on the controversy. Vice Chairman Jason Smith described Kimmel’s comments as “inappropriate and deeply insensitive at a critical moment for our country.” According to the statement released by Sinclair Inc., the Sinclair ABC stations will air a tribute to Charlie Kirk in the times lot held by “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Sinclair further called upon Kimmel to personally apologize to the Kirk family and to make donations to both the Kirk family and Turning Point USA.