“Hollywood celebrities have defended Jimmy Kimmel for being ‘indefinitely’ taken off the air following his comments over conservative political influencer Charlie Kirk.”, — write: www.dailymail.co.uk
It was revealed that ABC would not be airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! ‘for the foreseeable future,’ a spokesperson announced on Wednesday.
The talk show host made controversial statements about Kirk on Monday following his assassination last week at Utah Valley University – and said during his monologue that the ‘MAGA gang’ was trying to gain political points over Kirk’s murder.
The suspected shooter Tyler Robinson, 22, has since been taken into custody and appeared in court on Tuesday on multiple charges, including aggravated murder.
Kimmel also insinuated that Robinson was conservative – despite investigators stating he has far-left ideologies and was also in a romantic relationship with his transgender roommate.
The network’s affiliate group, Nexstar, additionally shared on Wednesday that it ‘strongly objects’ to Kimmel’s comments and ‘will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets.’
Stars have since shared their thoughts over Kimmel being taking off the air, with singer Halsey reposting the news to her Instagram stories.
She then added the text: ‘We’re in the “tell on your friends and neighbors” “extreme censorship” “indistinguishable propaganda” part of the fascism in case it wasn’t clear.’
Singer John Legend shared a post by David Frum which read: ‘”How dare you call us fascists just because our appointees threaten government retaliation against broadcast networks if their comedians don’t say what we want them to say.”‘
Ben Stiller jumped over to X to repost the news of ABC taking Kimmel off their and typed out, ‘This isn’t right.’
Political commentator and MSNBC host Chris Hayes tweeted, ‘This is the most straightforward attack on free speech from state actors I’ve ever seen in my life and it’s not even close.’
California governor Gavin Newsom also took to X and said, ‘Buying and controlling media platforms. Firing commentators. Canceling shows.
‘These aren’t coincidences. It’s coordinated. And it’s dangerous. The @GOP does not believe in free speech. They are censoring you in real time.’
Community actress Alison Brie also jumped to Instagram to share the news and wrote, ‘This is unreal. And very scary.’
Don Lemon labeled the news as ‘scary s**t’ on Threads and further expressed that ‘the folks that are complaining about canceling people are canceling people.’
He added, ‘What does that tell you? That they don’t believe in anything they’re saying. This is a very dangerous, scary moment.’
Christie Brinkley shared a photo of Kimmel posing with other talk show hosts such as Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers and John Oliver.
‘I love these guys! The laughter they provide us is as important as the air we breath! And they are taking another one of them off the air tonight! WE MUST PROTECT their and OUR 1st Amendment RIGHTS!!!!’
President Donald Trump had a differing opinion and shared on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, ‘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. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible.’
Trump concluded with, ‘That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!! President DJT.’
The U.S. president referenced to late night talk show host Stephen Colbert whose show was cancelled back in July by CBS.
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert will come to an end next year in May 2026.
Despite the cancellation, Colbert notably won an Emmy over the past weekend for Outstanding Talk Series.
The comedian recently mocked Trump on Tuesday for not having one of the awards as he kicked off the episode.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, welcome one and all. Welcome to The Late Show. I’m your host, Steven Colbert. I’m sorry. I meant to say welcome to the Emmy Award-winning Late Show.’
Following applause from the live audience, the star then added, ‘Speaking of Emmys, uh, Donald Trump doesn’t have one.’
Back in July, CBS announced the cancellation of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert after 10 years of being on the air.
It came just days after his furious rant live on air over the network’s parent company Paramount settling a $16 million lawsuit with President Trump.
Paramount reached a $16 million settlement after Trump accused the company for falsely editing a 60 Minute interview with then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Along with the settlement, the company also agreed to release unedited transcripts of 60 Minutes interviews with presidential candidates.
Colbert blasted Paramount’s settlement with Trump live on air and claimed the company could have ‘easily fought it.’
Earlier this week on Tuesday, President Trump also announced that he is suing the New York Times in a $15B defamation lawsuit.
Trump also filed a $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch in July over the outlet sharing allegations about a birthday note Trump allegedly wrote for Epstein.
Kimmel was pulled off the air ‘indefinitely’ by ABC over his divisive comments regarding the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
The drastic move came after Kimmel shared a controversial statement about Kirk’s murder suspect – insinuating he was a conservative. However, investigators say Robinson held far-left ideologies and was dating his transgender roommate.
The TV personality’s unproven suggestion that Robinson was a proponent of the MAGA movement caught instant flak from Federal Communications Commission boss Brendan Carr.
On Wednesday, Carr told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson he was considering an investigation into Kimmel and his network ABC over the jarring remarks.
‘When you look at the conduct that has taken place by Jimmy Kimmel, it appears to be some of the sickest conduct possible,’ Carr told Johnson.
‘As you’ve indicated, there are avenues here for the FCC, so there… are some ways in which I need to be a little bit careful because we could be called ultimately to be a judge on some of these claims that come up,’ Carr said.
Kimmel’s comments about Robinson came during his Monday night monologue.
‘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,’ the host said.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! has been a network staple for more than 22 years.
In response to Kimmel’s remarks, Carr floated the idea of suspending the host – one of several prospective ‘remedies’ for the situation, he said.
At one point, Johnson asked Carr what kind of action he thought should be taken, proposing an on-air apology from Kimmel.
‘I think what you said there strikes me as a very reasonable, minimal step that can be taken,’ Carr replied.
ABC’s decision to pull the show came shortly after its affiliate group, Nexstar, also announced it would stop airing it effective immediately.
‘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,’ the company wrote on Wednesday.
Nexstar’s broadcasting division President Andrew Alford blasted Kimmel’s comments as ‘offensive and insensitive’ in the wake of the Turning Point USA co-founder’s gory assassination, which occurred at a Utah Valley University rally on September 10.
Soon after the Donald Trump ally was fatally shot in the neck on the Orem campus – in front of an audience of 3,000 horrified spectators – Kimmel reacted to his death online.
‘Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human?’ Kimmel wrote.
‘On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.’
But he seemingly changed his tune during the Monday night monologue that ultimately got his show pulled.
In reaction to Nexstar’s move to axe Kimmel, both Johnson and Carr posted celebratory sentiments on X.
‘Great job @NXSTMediaGroup. Thank you for standing up for Charlie,’ Johnson wrote.