ABC has pulled late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off air indefinitely over comments he made about the shooting of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk.

“Jimmy Kimmel Live will be pre-empted indefinitely,” a spokesperson for the Disney-owned network said in a statement to the BBC.

In his Monday night monologue, Kimmel said the “MAGA gang” was trying to score political points off Kirk’s killing.

On Tuesday, a 22-year-old suspect appeared in court charged with aggravated murder over last Wednesday’s shooting of the 31-year-old conservative activist. Representatives for Kimmel did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Kimmel said on Monday: “The Maga Gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

The late-night host also criticised flags being flown at half mast in honour of Kirk, and mocked the president’s reaction to the shooting.

“This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he calls a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish,” said Kimmel, who has often mocked Trump in his monologues.

Authorities have not specified a motive in Kirk’s fatal shooting on 10 September. According to charging documents, the suspect’s mother “explained that over the last year or so, he had become political and started to lean more to the left – becoming more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented”.

The suspect, Tyler Robinson, was not registered to any political party and did not vote in the 2022 or 2024 elections.

Shortly after ABC announced Kimmel had been suspended, Trump said it was “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,”the president wrote in a social media post.

Trump then criticised two other late-night hosts, Jimmy Fallon and and Seth Myers, who he described as “two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible.”

Trump and Kimmel have clashed in the past, with Kimmel notably reading Trump’s scathing review mid-show while he hosted the Oscars last year.

Kimmel’s comments on Monday provoked criticism, including from the chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Brendan Carr, who said on a right-wing podcast on Wednesday that the host had shown “the sickest conduct possible” as he urged Disney to take action.

“[Broadcasters] have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest,” said Carr, who was appointed by Trump to lead the US communications regulator.

“Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. 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 told The Benny Show.

He noted that an apology from Kimmel would be a “very reasonable, minimal step”.

The ABC announcement came just after one of the biggest owners of TV stations in the US, Nexstar Media, said it would not air Jimmy Kimmel Live! “for the foreseeable future beginning with tonight’s show”.

Nexstar said the comedian’s remarks about Kirk “are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse”.

“[We] do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located,” said Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division.

“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 pre-empt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue.”

Following the programme’s suspension, Carr thanked Nexstar “for doing the right thing” and said he hoped other broadcasters would follow its lead.

Nexstar is currently seeking FCC approval for its planned $6.2bn merger with Tegna.

A person familiar with Kimmel’s situation told CNBC that the host had not been fired, adding that bosses at the network intended to speak to the comedian about what he should say when he goes back on the air.

Kimmel is the latest late-night host to see his long-running programme run into issues as more viewers turn to streaming over traditional network viewing.

In July, rival network CBS announced that it would end The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in May 2026 after 33 years.

Network executives said the move was “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount”.

However, Colbert tore into the network and its parent company over the decision.

He accused CBS of leaking financial figures to the press, and alluded to a $16m (£13.5m) settlement agreement with Trump after he sued the network over its “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris last year.

That settlement came several months after the Disney-owned ABC News agreed to pay $15m (£12m) to Trump to settle a defamation lawsuit after its star anchor George Stephanopoulos falsely and repeatedly said during an interview that the president had been found “liable for rape”.

A jury in a civil case had determined Trump was liable for “sexual abuse”, which has a specific definition under New York law.

Source: BBC

-Agencies