Jimmy Kimmel Dwell! was pulled off the air “indefinitely” on Wednesday after the late-night discuss present host made remarks earlier within the week about Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist who was fatally shot final week.
ABC didn’t publicly clarify the choice, however the transfer got here after Nexstar Media Group — which owns the biggest variety of native tv stations in america — stated that it will be eradicating the present from its ABC affiliate stations.
Throughout his Sept. 15 present, Kimmel stated the “MAGA gang” — i.e., supporters of President Trump and his “Make America nice once more” slogan — was making an attempt to “rating political factors” by calling Robinson a left-wing radical.
“The MAGA Gang [is] desperately making an attempt to characterize this child who murdered Charlie Kirk as something apart from certainly one of them and doing the whole lot they will to attain political factors from it,” Kimmel stated, including, “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”
In a assertion posted to Nexstar’s web site, Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, known as Kimmel’s feedback regarding the dying of Kirk “offensive and insensitive” and stated that they don’t “mirror the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the native communities through which we’re situated.”
“Persevering with to present Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform within the communities we serve is solely not within the public curiosity on the present time, and we now have made the tough choice to preempt his present in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we transfer towards the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue,” the assertion continued.
What’s Nexstar? What are affiliate stations?
Nexstar Media Group, headquartered in Irving, Texas, owns and operates native tv stations throughout america, lots of that are associates of main networks, together with ABC. Associates are native TV stations which might be independently owned however broadcast programming from main nationwide networks.
Nexstar offers the native channels, or associates, so that folks can watch these nationwide applications of their cities together with native information and different programming.
Nexstar, which owns greater than 200 stations, is presently searching for the Trump administration’s approval for a $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna, one other main U.S. broadcaster. Ought to the merger undergo — it requires regulatory approvals — the mixed firm could have stations in a lot of the prime TV markets, giving it extra promoting energy and a much bigger nationwide presence.
What does it imply to “preempt” Jimmy Kimmel Dwell!?
To “preempt” programming means to not air the present and as a substitute change it with one other programming possibility, as typically occurs for breaking information or particular occasions.
How is the Federal Communications Fee (FCC) concerned?
ABC’s choice to drag Kimmel off the air comes on the heels of backlash from Federal Communications Fee Chairman Brendan Carr, who appeared on conservative commenter Benny Johnson’s The Benny Present to talk about the feedback Kimmel made. He known as the discuss present host’s alternative of phrases “the sickest conduct doable,” alleging that Kimmel was “[playing] into the narrative that [the shooting suspect] was someway a MAGA or Republican-motivated particular person.”
“What individuals don’t perceive,” Carr stated, is that broadcasters “have a license granted by us on the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to function within the public curiosity.”
“We will do that the simple method or the exhausting method,” Carr stated on the podcast. “These corporations can discover methods to alter conduct and take actions on Kimmel, or there’s going to be further work for the FCC forward.”
Carr was nominated as an FCC commissioner in 2017 by Trump throughout his first time period. Trump then appointed Carr as chairman in January 2025, when he took workplace for his second time period.
This isn’t the primary time that Carr has known as out applications for his or her content material, particularly over what he perceives to be a political bias in opposition to conservatives. Earlier this yr, Carr initiated an inquiry into CBS Information’ 60 Minutes interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. The investigation centered on whether or not CBS Information had violated FCC guidelines by enhancing the interview in a method that allegedly favored Harris. 60 Minutes denied the allegations, and in the end the FCC didn’t impose penalties on CBS.
In July, Paramount World, the mother or father firm of CBS Information, settled a lawsuit with Trump over the enhancing of the interview for $16 million. A month later, the FCC authorized the merger of Paramount World and Skydance. Carr pushed again in opposition to critics who claimed that the approval was hinged on settling the lawsuit with Trump.
Different late-night discuss present turmoil
The information of Kimmel’s present getting pulled off the air comes after Stephen Colbert’s program, The Late Present With Stephen Colbert, was canceled by CBS. The present was canceled in July, after CBS Information settled with Trump. On his present, Colbert known as Paramount World’s settling with Trump a “massive fats bribe.”
In a press release, Paramount World stated the transfer was purely a “monetary choice” in opposition to a “difficult backdrop in late evening” and that it was “not associated in any approach to the present’s efficiency, content material or different issues occurring at Paramount.”
