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The indefinite suspension of late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel has sparked a wave of reactions across the entertainment industry, following his remarks about the assassination of conservative political commentator Charlie Kirk.
On Sept. 17, ABC network and its affiliated stations suspended future broadcast of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” until further notice, after Kimmel, 57, delivered a monologue about Kirk’s suspected killer.
“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 comedian said during his show on Monday.
The suspension drew mixed responses from public figures, industry insiders, politicians, comedians, and fans alike across social media and from both sides of the aisle.
President Donald Trump applauded the decision during his state visit to the UK, saying ABC “should have fired him a long time ago.”
“Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else,” he told reporters during a press conference.
“He said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk.
“You can call that free speech or not.”
Other conservative figures accused Kimmel of spreading disinformation about the suspected assassin.
“I’m not sure who needs to hear this but Jimmy Kimmel got on the air and falsely stated as a fact that Charlie Kirk’s killer was MAGA,” commentator and former Fox News host Megyn Kelly said on X, referring to supporters of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” agenda.
“Smearing an entire movement and Trump in particular with a vile disgusting lie—and at a time when the threat against those on the right is at an all-time high.”
Radio host and podcaster Mark R. Levin said on social media that Kimmel “should’ve been canned a long time ago.”
Media conglomerate Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns and operates television stations affiliated with ABC, does not intend to air the show until “appropriate steps” are taken to uphold national standards.
“Sinclair’s ABC stations will air a special in remembrance of Charlie Kirk this Friday, during the ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ timeslot,” the company wrote on X.
Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)condemned the decision, with the director of its Democracy and Technology Division referring to it as a “grave threat to our First Amendment freedoms.”
Hollywood also came to Kimmel’s defense, including actors, former late-night hosts, and comedians, such as Ben Stiller, Jean Smart, Mike Birbiglia, Wanda Sykes, and others.
“I am horrified at the cancellation of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ What Jimmy said was FREE speech, not hate speech,” Smart posted to social media.
In an interview with The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, former talk-show host David Letterman, who had the longest-running stint on late-night television, called the latest sequence of events “misery” in comparison to his time on-air.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr’s criticism of Kimmel’s remarks fueled further debate surrounding free speech, indicating that broadcasters are held to a different standard than other methods of communication.
“The issue that arose here, where lots and lots of people were upset, was not a joke,” Carr told CNBC on Sept. 18. “It was appearing to directly mislead the American public about a significant fact.”
“Broadcasters are different than any other form of communication,” Carr added in a separate interview with Fox News the night prior.
Kimmel, whose contract is up in May of next year, has yet to comment on the matter.
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