‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ Pulled From ABC Airwaves “Indefinitely” After Late Night Host’s Charlie Kirk Commentary

Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be off the air “indefinitely” after being pulled from the schedule by ABC over the eponoymous host’s comments regarding the death of Charlie Kirk.

On Wednesday, the network announced that the late-night comedy series will go dark begining with the September 17 show after Kimmel, who has previously been outspoken on political issues, made reference to Kirk’s murder during a monologue on the show.

“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,” Kimmel said during the monologue, which has now been criticised by the likes of the Federal Communications Commision chair Brandon Carr.

In a recent appearance on YouTuber Benny Johnson’s The Benny Show, Carr said that he could see “a path forward” to a suspension or other punitive actions for Kimmel, ABC, or the Walt Disney Corporation, which is ABC’s parent companyy.

“[This] appears to be an action by Jimmy Kimmel to play into the narrative that this was somehow a MAGA or Republican-motivated person,” Carr told Johnson on an episode posted to YouTube September 17.

Carr continued, “What people don’t understand is that the broadcasters […] have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest. When we see stuff like this, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

It’s unclear at this time if any action has been taken against Kimmel by ABC or the FCC.

The news comes one week after Kirk, a conservative commentator popular among far-right circles, was shot and killed while talking with college students in Utah on September 10.