Senior executives at Disney reportedly made the decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show off the air following his remarks about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Disney CEO Bob Iger, along with Disney Entertainment co-chair Dana Walden — were behind the decision to suspend ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” indefinitely after the late-night host’s remarks about Kirk’s death, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
“‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ will be pre-empted indefinitely,” a spokesperson for ABC said on Wednesday.
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The Disney executives’ move was driven partly by media company Nexstar Media Group’s refusal to air the show, given that it operates 32 ABC affiliates. One Nexstar executive denounced Kimmel’s remarks as “offensive and insensitive,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
Sinclair Broadcast Group, which oversees 30 ABC stations, also said it was refusing to air the show and insisted on several demands from Kimmel, including an apology and a donation to Kirk’s family, as well as Turning Point USA, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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The suspension began with Wednesday night’s broadcast, with no set return date. Disney is monitoring the situation and believes the show could be reinstated in the coming days, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a source with knowledge of the matter.
On Monday’s show, Kimmel accused “the MAGA gang” of “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 also mocked President Donald Trump’s response to Kirk’s death and accused Vice President JD Vance and others of exploiting the tragedy, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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Trump celebrated the show’s suspension on Truth Social, saying Kimmel has “zero talent and worse ratings than even Colbert.”
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr, in an interview on CNBC, accused Kimmel of misleading the public about Kirk’s death. He also recently told the Wall Street Journal that the FCC would be taking a tougher stance against broadcasters it believes are failing to serve the public interest with their public-affairs programming and news.
Earlier this month, Kimmel criticized CBS for its decision to end “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” suggesting the network canceled the show to appease Trump and secure FCC approval for Paramount’s merger with Skydance Media.
“CBS, all of a sudden out of the blue, claimed ‘The Late Show’ was losing $40 million a year and then miraculously got FCC approval to sell their company, which is what they wanted,” Kimmel said during his monologue.
Jimmy Kimmel, Disney and the FCC did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment.
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