ABC pulls ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ off air ‘indefinitely’ over Charlie Kirk comments
Key Points
- ABC said it was pulling the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show off the air “indefinitely” after controversial comments by its host about the slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
- Kirk was killed last week in a shooting while speaking at a Utah university.
- Nexstar Media Group said earlier that its company-owned and “partner television stations affiliated with the ABC Television Network will preempt ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ for the foreseeable future beginning with tonight’s show.”
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ABC on Wednesday night said it was pulling the
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” late-night show off the air “indefinitely” after controversial comments by its host about the slain conservative activist
Charlie Kirk.
Jimmy Kimmel, during his opening monologue for Monday night’s show, had suggested that Tyler Robinson, the man accused of killing Kirk, was aligned with President
Donald Trump’s MAGA — Make America Great Again — movement.
“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 between the finger-pointing, there was grieving,” he added.
″ ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ will be pre-empted indefinitely,” an ABC spokesman told NBC News on Wednedsday.
ABC is a subsidiary of
Disney.
ABC’s announcement came shortly after
Nexstar Media Group said its company-owned and “partner television stations affiliated with the ABC Television Network will preempt ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ for the foreseeable future beginning with tonight’s show.”
“Nexstar strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets,” Nextstar said.
Andrew Alford, the president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, said, “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.”
“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,” Alford said.
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