‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ Suspended Over Kirk Murderer Talk, As Carr Comments

The ABC Television Network late Wednesday confirmed that it is pulling “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for an indefinite period in response to comments made by the late-night host concerning the man suspected of murdering Turning Point USA founder and prominent conservative Republican Charlie Kirk on September 10 at a Utah speaking event.

The decision by the network to halt episodes of the 11:35pm ET/PT program until further notice came after an eight-minute interview with the Chairman of the FCC, Brendan Carr, and The Benny Show host Benny Johnson in which Carr said, “When you look at the conduct that has taken place by Jimmy Kimmel, it appears to be some of the sickest conduct possible. There are avenues here for the FCC …”

News of ABC’s decision came just minutes after Nexstar Media Group announced that it would pre-empt Kimmel’s late-night program across every ABC affiliate it owns.

Meanwhile, Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez chimed in with a dissent of Carr, issuing a statement that all but condemned his comments on The Benny Show.

“An inexcusable act of political violence by one disturbed individual must never be exploited as justification for broader censorship or control,” Gomez warned. “This Administration is increasingly using the weight of government power to suppress lawful expression, not because it glorifies violence or breaks the law, but because it challenges those in power or reflects views they oppose … We must stand firm against every attempt to silence dissent, punish satirists and government critics, and erode individual liberty. To surrender our right to speak freely is to accept that those in power, not the people, will set the boundaries of debate that define a free society.”

The suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” dominated the 7pm hour on CNN, and competing networks including NBC were quick to report on the decision by ABC.

The move from ABC came minutes after Nexstar shared it “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.” Nexstar broadcasting division President Andrew Alford added that comments about the death of Kirk from Kimmel, in which he asserted the main suspect was a “MAGA” Republican and a white heterosexual male in support of the president, “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.”

Specifically, Kimmel remarked, “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.”

This led Carr to state as a business matter for ABC, “something has to change.” Does what Kimmel said rise to the level of news distortion?

The FCC could be called upon to be an ultimate judge, Carr concluded. “But at this point I think it appears to be clear that you could make a strong argument that this sort of an intentional effort to mislead the American people on a very core, fundamental fact about a very important matter. At the end of the day, if we do get called upon to cast a vote on this, Disney will have a chance to put in their arguments and explain it, but this is a very serious issue right now for Disney.”