Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show was pulled off the air following his controversial comments about the death of Charlie Kirk.
During the Monday, September 15, broadcast of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Kimmel, 57, shared his thoughts about Kirk’s murder. (The conservative political activist was shot and killed during an event at Utah Valley University on September 10. Kirk was 31.)
“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 with everything they can to score political points from,” Kimmel said. “In between the finger pointing, there was grieving.”
Kimmel added that President Donald Trump ordered the flags to fly at half-staff. He also noted that Trump was taking the news “hard” before showing a clip of the president talking to reporters about the White House ballroom construction after he was asked how he was coping with Kirk’s tragic passing.
“He’s at the fourth stage of grief, construction,” Kimmel quipped. “It’s demolition, construction.”
Kimmel then took a dig at Trump, 79, who was reportedly close to Kirk.
“This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend,” Kimmel claimed. “This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.”
Days after the show aired, news broke that ABC was taking Kimmel off the air.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live will be pre-empted indefinitely,” an ABC spokesperson confirmed to Us Weekly on Wednesday, September 17.
ABC’s move comes after Nexstar Media, which owns multiple TV stations, reportedly threatened to eliminate the late night show from its lineup. The company told Variety in a statement on Wednesday that they “strongly” objected to “recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk.”
Us has reached out to Kimmel for comment.
Kirk was a controversial figure during his life and has continued to be polarizing post-mortem. While many stars and political figures have mourned Kirk and denounced his murder, there has been backlash and consequences from those who have spoken negatively. Multiple public figures have been fired for insensitive remarks about Kirk, including MSNBC correspondent Matthew Dowd.
“[Kirk has] been one of the most divisive, especially divisive younger figures in this, who is constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech or sort of aimed at certain groups,” Dowd, who previously worked as a strategist for President George W. Bush, said during the network’s coverage. “And I always go back to, hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions. And I think that is the environment we are in. You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and not expect awful actions to take place. And that’s the unfortunate environment we are in.”
Hours later, Dowd, 64, was let go from the network and he issued an apology.
“Let us all come together and condemn violence of any kind,” he wrote. “My thoughts & prayers are w/ the family and friends of Charlie Kirk. On an earlier appearance on MSNBC I was asked a question on the environment we are in. I apologize for my tone and words.”
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