ABC has suspended “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” indefinitely after the late-night host’s on-air remarks about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk prompted a revolt by major station groups and public warnings from the head of the U.S. broadcast regulator. “Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be pre-empted indefinitely,” an ABC spokesperson said late Wednesday, confirming the network would pull the show from its schedule for the foreseeable future following Kimmel’s monologues on Monday and Tuesday.
The decision landed minutes after Nexstar Media Group, one of the largest owners of ABC affiliates, announced it would no longer air the program. Andrew Alford, Nexstar’s president of broadcasting, called Kimmel’s remarks “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse,” adding that continuing to carry the show “is simply not in the public interest at the current time,” and that Nexstar would pre-empt the program “for the foreseeable future.” Sinclair Broadcast Group said it would also stop airing the show and would instead run “a special in remembrance of Charlie Kirk” in Kimmel’s time slot on Friday, urging the host to apologize to Kirk’s family and make a “meaningful personal donation to the Kirk family and Turning Point USA.”
The Federal Communications Commission’s chair, Brendan Carr, publicly pressed local broadcasters to drop the show before ABC acted. In a podcast interview earlier Wednesday, Carr called Kimmel’s commentary “some of the sickest conduct possible,” said “there was a path forward for suspension,” and warned there were “remedies we could look at,” while thanking Nexstar “for doing the right thing” once it moved. Carr later wrote that “local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest” and encouraged peers to “push back” on programming “that they determine falls short of community values.”
Kimmel’s comments came less than a week after Kirk, 31, was shot dead during a campus event in Orem, Utah. In his Monday monologue on 15 September, Kimmel told viewers, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang 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.” On Tuesday he said, “Many in MAGA-land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk,” and criticized Vice President JD Vance’s argument that the political left bore blame, calling a statistic Vance cited “complete bullshit” and pointing to research asserting far-right groups account for most domestic extremist violence.
Hours after ABC’s announcement, former President Donald Trump praised the removal, declaring on his social media account: “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent… That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC… Do it NBC!!!” The former president, in Britain on a state visit, has used the Kirk killing to renew attacks on perceived “radical left” speech. ABC did not say the show was canceled, only that it was being pre-empted without a return date.
The network’s move caps 48 hours in which pressure mounted across the broadcast chain. Nexstar’s statement said Kimmel’s remarks do not “reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located,” and framed the pre-emption as a cooling-off step “as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue.” Sinclair said it would not restore the show “until we are confident that appropriate steps have been taken to uphold the standards expected of a national broadcast platform.” Neither ABC nor Kimmel issued any further statement overnight; audiences were turned away from the Hollywood Boulevard studio ahead of Wednesday’s taping.
Kimmel’s monologues were delivered amid a fast-moving criminal case in Utah. Prosecutors in Utah County have charged a 22-year-old man, Tyler Robinson, with aggravated murder and related offenses and filed notice of intent to seek the death penalty, alleging a sniper-style attack from a rooftop roughly 200 yards from Kirk’s lectern at Utah Valley University. The case has drawn unusually intense political and media scrutiny; the FCC chair’s intervention added a regulatory edge to the backlash against Kimmel’s framing of the suspect’s politics.
ABC’s parent, Disney, did not elaborate on the internal process that led to the suspension. The Guardian reported that ABC acted “hours after” Carr warned affiliate licenses could be at risk if stations continued to air the show, and noted that Nexstar and Sinclair moved first, constraining network distribution even before ABC’s corporate decision. “Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be pre-empted indefinitely,” an ABC spokesperson said in a statement carried by multiple outlets, using language that indicates a schedule substitution rather than outright cancellation. The network has not announced replacement programming beyond the immediate schedule.
The episode has sharpened a political fight over media speech and the boundaries of broadcast content. Carr’s on-air warning drew swift criticism from civil-liberties advocates and some lawmakers, who argued that federal regulators should not appear to condition broadcast carriage on political content. CBS News noted that the FCC’s own guidance says the agency is “barred by law from trying to prevent the broadcast of any point of view,” and that expressions of views not presenting a clear and present danger are constitutionally protected. Writers Guild of America leaders said, “As a Guild, we stand united in opposition to anyone who uses their power and influence to silence the voices of writers,” calling the decision “suppression” that “impoverishes the whole world.” SAG-AFTRA said the suspension “is the type of suppression and retaliation that endangers everyone’s freedoms.” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer wrote, “America is meant to be a bastion of free speech… This must go to court.”
Supporters of the suspension countered that broadcast licenses impose distinct public-interest obligations. Nexstar’s Alford said the company’s decision reflected local standards in communities served by its stations, where Kimmel airs after late-news programs. Sinclair called for a direct apology to Kirk’s family and a donation to the family and to Turning Point USA, the conservative youth organization Kirk co-founded. Carr, thanking Nexstar and encouraging others to follow, said “it is important for broadcasters to push back” when programming “falls short of community values.”
The New York Post and other outlets published extended transcripts of Kimmel’s remarks to provide fuller context for the network and affiliate decisions. In those monologues, Kimmel accused conservatives of “doing everything they can to score political points” after the shooting, and suggested the political right was straining to disown the alleged assassin. He challenged Vice President Vance’s statements about a left-wing threat, citing data that he said pointed the other way. Kimmel, 57, has long used his opening segments to criticize Republicans and right-leaning media figures, a habit that has produced intermittent flare-ups but rarely station-group boycotts on the scale seen this week.
Station groups’ pre-emptions were decisive because of how late-night network television is distributed in the United States. ABC relies on dozens of independently owned affiliates to carry its programs; when large owners pre-empt a show across multiple markets, it can sharply curtail national reach and advertising. Nexstar owns or operates more than 200 stations across the country; Sinclair partners say they control ABC outlets in 30 markets and will keep Kimmel off their air “until further notice.” ABC’s national feed can substitute programs where affiliates decline carriage, but widespread pre-emption combined with a high-profile controversy made an indefinite network suspension the simplest route.
The Guardian said ABC acted after Carr warned on a right-wing podcast that stations “were running the possibility of fines or license revocation from the FCC” if they continued to carry Kimmel’s show in the aftermath of his remarks. Carr later posted: “Local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest. While this may be an unprecedented decision, it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community [values],” thanking Nexstar “for doing the right thing.” ABC did not reference the FCC chair’s comments in its statement.
The controversy surrounding Kimmel has unfolded alongside broader pressure campaigns related to public reactions to Kirk’s death, including firings or suspensions of public employees over social-media posts and escalating calls from politicians and activists to identify and punish people accused of “celebrating” the killing. CBS reported that a Secret Service agent was placed on leave over a post about Kirk; other writers and commentators have lost roles after on-air or online comments. The cumulative effect has been to place media organizations on alert for language that could trigger backlash—and to focus attention on how networks calibrate their responses when local affiliates balk.
Kimmel has hosted the ABC program since 2003. The show, which tapes at a theater on Hollywood Boulevard, has been a fixture of the late-night landscape and a frequent venue for political satire and celebrity interviews. ABC did not say whether writers and staff would be reassigned during the suspension. On Wednesday, a CBS camera crew filmed outside the studio as media gathered after the network’s announcement, underscoring the abruptness of the change.
The network has not provided a timeline for any review or potential return. Newsweek, citing a network spokesperson, used the same language ABC sent to other outlets — that the program will be “pre-empted indefinitely” — and carried Alford’s full statement from Nexstar explaining the group’s decision. The Guardian reported that Kimmel had not responded publicly as of early Thursday; ABC did not answer follow-up questions about replacement programming. For now, affiliates are filling the slot with local or syndicated content, and Sinclair has said it will run a tribute to Kirk during Friday’s hour.
The move against Kimmel marks a rare instance of a marquee network show being taken off the air over a political monologue, rather than a personal scandal or business dispute. It follows weeks of intensifying conflict over how broadcasters handle speech about the Kirk case, which has become a lightning rod in a polarized national climate. Whether “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” returns will depend on ABC’s internal review, affiliate sentiment and the trajectory of a legal case still in its earliest stages in Utah—factors that together pushed a long-running late-night franchise into open-ended limbo after a pair of monologues and a day of extraordinary pressure.