ABC Indefinitely Pulls 'Kimmel Live' Following Charlie Kirk Remarks

ABC Television Network has "pre-empted indefinitely" its long-time late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live” due to remarks Kimmel made with regard to the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The decision came minutes after the largest independent TV station group -- Nexstar Media Group, which has 32 ABC-affiliated TV stations -- said it was pulling the 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,” according to Nexstar representative.

Earlier on Wednesday, Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr threatened to take action against ABC affiliates in the wake of Kimmel’s Monday monologue about Kirk.

In remarks about Kirk’s death over the weekend, Kimmel said this comes “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”.

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The moves by ABC and Nexstar come as Nexstar is seeking Federal Communications Commission approval for its $6.2 billion deal to acquire Tegna, a major TV station group.

From September 17, 2024 to September 14, 2025, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” took in $45.73 million in national TV advertising revenue, down 9% from the same 12-month period the year before, according to estimates from EDO Ad EnGage.

In July, CBS abruptly said it was cancelling “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” just after Colbert joked in a monologue about CBS’ parent company -- then Paramount Global -- making a $16 million settlement and the Trump Administration lawsuit that involved the editing of an interview with then Presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

12 comments about "ABC Indefinitely Pulls 'Kimmel Live' Following Charlie Kirk Remarks".
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  1. Mark Sutton from NHR, September 17, 2025 at 9:46 p.m.

    'Kimmel said this comes “with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them'

    So Kimmel made a deliberate lie about the shooter....at least acknowledge Kimmel made a blatant lie.

  2. Bill Conway from Radio, September 18, 2025 at 12:32 a.m.

    It was A JOKE about MAGA supporters not the murderer not Charlie Kirk. And it should be noted that Charlie Kirk was a supporter of free speech and hearing opposing views. He literally gave his life in support of free speech. Do you think this is the legacy he would want ?

  3. Dan C. from MS Entertainment, September 18, 2025 at 5:02 a.m.

    While I don't think these particular comments were bad, especially compared to other things Kimmel has said, my gut tells me that he and ABC agreed to use this as an excuse to end his show.


    His job is to entertain and his monologues have turned into hating Trump and his supporters all the time and that doesn't make out to be a good business model bashing half the country every night.  Ratings are terrible and he's getting paid way too much money just to be Mr. Bitter Buns every night.


    He hasnt' seemed to enjoy doing his job for a long time and it's not entertaining - so ABC uses this as an excuse to fire him and put some extra money back in their pocket and he can pretend like he's fighting the good fight and took one for the team.

  4. Kenneth Fadner from MediaPost, September 18, 2025 at 7:22 a.m.

    Mr. Ciccone:

    Make that 39% of the country ...

    https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/52988-donald-trump-job-approval-presidential-attributes-charlie-kirk-shooting-political-violence-political-parties-democratic-party-republican-party-jeffrey-epstein-immigration-september-12-15-2025-economist-yougov-poll

  5. Mark Sutton from NHR replied, September 18, 2025 at 8:17 a.m.

    It's 50% of the country, Mr. Wilton.

  6. Paul King from Paul King & Associates, September 18, 2025 at 8:24 a.m.

    Curious. Where's the standard? Fox Morning show can say homeless people should be injected and killed and that doesn't warrant being suspended? We're going down a very, dangerous path of censorship. As those in the Media we should be keenly aware of the dangers ahead. Don't be intimidated and stand for the First Amendment. All the Best.



  7. Kenny Kurtz from Persuasion Marketing And Media replied, September 18, 2025 at 1:19 p.m.

    Well, the 22 year old was closer to Maggot than a loony lib. Do you know any Mormons growing up in very conservative households with gun loving, very conservative parents? I do. Much closer to maggot than liberal 24/7...

  8. Kenny Kurtz from Persuasion Marketing And Media, September 18, 2025 at 1:28 p.m.

    His parents are maggots. His siblings too. Gun loving, orange Kool Aid drinking, very conservative Mormon Maggots. Where's the lie?

  9. Kenny Kurtz from Persuasion Marketing And Media replied, September 18, 2025 at 1:35 p.m.

    50% of the country? 39% of the country? What you talkin' about Willis? 280,000,000 voting age Americans, and Orange Turd was able to muster 77,000,000 votes. That's 28% of the country, and DumpTruck Trump is sinking like a rock. You guys must have done worse that DumpTruck on your SATs. I scored 1300, and DumpTruck 970. I must be one hell of a "genius."

  10. Marc Johnson from United Future replied, September 18, 2025 at 2:57 p.m.

    How exactly did Kimmel lie about the shooter. His comment was about how the shooter is being characterized (or not characterized) by "the MAGA gang". Kimmel's comment was critical or those who control or infliuence the MAGA narrative and strategy, not the shooter. At this point, we have very few verified details about him or what motivated him. This is about trying to push a narrative that makes them look good, and distance themselves from any intimation that their attitude and rhetoric (including Kirk's) might have contributed to the climate in which this shooting occurred. This is reinforced by the relative silence from the same sources about similar violence that has affected people identified with the political left. And beyond all of that, the idea that a powerful syndicate of network affiliates can use financial pressure to censor or control content is unacceptable.

  11. Marc Johnson from United Future replied, September 18, 2025 at 2:59 p.m.

    Pretty cynical, and I seriously doubt Kimmel would ever agree to this, even if he did want to step away from the show, which I don't believe he does - especially in the current climate.

  12. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, September 18, 2025 at 6:01 p.m.

    Guys, a small point re  Gutfeld's rating wins.

    I went online and checked the reports of the first quarter  2025 Nielsens and sure enough, Gutfeld "clobbered" Colbert and Kimmel, "reaching" 3.6 million viewers aged 2+  per commercial minute compared to 2.4 million for Colbert and 1.8 million for Kimmel.

    But Gutfeld was not competing head to head with Colbert or Kimmel--he goes on an hour earlier--when many more people are up and watching.So the key stat is share of audience---what percent of the available viewers did each show draw in its time period. The answer, per Nielsen, was that Colbert's share of audience was 8.8%, Kimmel got 6.7% and Gutfeld 7.5%. In other words, they all attracted about the same percentage of available viewers--7-8%. 

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