19 September 2025 - Late night host Jimmy Kimmel suspended over Charlie Kirk comments
ABC takes Jimmy Kimmel off air over Charlie Kirk comments
Nardine Saad and Regan Morris (BBC, 18/09/2025)
TV host Jimmy Kimmel has been pulled off air indefinitely after comments he made about the shooting of Charlie Kirk, ABC has said.
The decision came hours after Brendan Carr, chair of broadcast regulator, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), threatened to act against ABC and its parent company Disney over the remarks.
Late night hosts Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert defend Jimmy Kimmel and free speech
John Liu and Megan Thomas (CNN, 19/09/2025)
Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart defended Jimmy Kimmel and free speech during their Thursday night shows, after ABC indefinitely suspended his popular late-night show on Wednesday amid a controversy over recent comments made by the longtime host about the investigation into Charlie Kirk’s suspected killer.
An Escalation in Every Way
David Sims (The Atlantic, 18/09/2025)
On Monday night, Jimmy Kimmel delivered an opening monologue on his talk show that addressed the online reaction to the arrest of Tyler Robinson, the primary suspect in the shooting of Charlie Kirk. “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,” he said. His comment was aimed not at Kirk but at the maelstrom of news around Kirk’s death; it speaks ill not of the dead, but of “the MAGA gang.” Less than two days later, Kimmel’s program has been pulled off the air “indefinitely,” according to his network, ABC.
The Grave Threat Posed by Donald Trump’s Attack on Jimmy Kimmel
Isaac Chotiner (The New Yorker, 18/09/2025)
On Wednesday evening, ABC indefinitely suspended Jimmy Kimmel, the host of its late-night show, after Kimmel discussed in his opening monologue the Trump Administration and the conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was murdered last week. Some viewers accused Kimmel of erroneously suggesting that Kirk’s alleged shooter was MAGA, which Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, called “some of the sickest conduct possible.”
Jimmy Kimmel in 2022 by Erin Scott. Wikipedia, Public Domain.
