Jimmy Kimmel show pulled by ABC in the US over Charlie Kirk remarks

American network ABC said it would indefinitely stop airing “Jimmy Kimmel Live” after remarks the late-night host made about Charlie Kirk’s assassination came under harsh criticism from the head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Earlier on Wednesday, Nexstar Media Group said it would stop airing the show on its 32 ABC affiliates, citing comments that Kimmel made.

Jimmy Kimmel.Credit: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

“Mr Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse,” Nexstar broadcasting division president Andrew Alford, said.

During his monologue on Monday, Kimmel said: “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.

“In between the finger pointing, there was, uh, grieving – on Friday, the White House flew the flags at half-staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level you can see how hard the president is taking this,” Kimmel said, before cutting to a clip where Trump responded to reporters asking about how he was doing by pointing to construction at the White House.

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Earlier, FCC chair Brendan Carr had urged local broadcasters to stop airing the show on the Walt Disney-owned ABC.

CNN reported that Carr told right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson that Kimmel’s remarks constituted “the sickest conduct possible” and suggested the FCC could move to revoke ABC affiliate licenses to force Disney to punish the late-night host.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said.

“These companies can find ways to change conduct and take actions on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Carr attacked Kimmel as “talentless” and suggested the late-night comedian’s comments displayed “some sort of desperate irrelevance”, CNN reported.

A message sent by AP to a spokesperson for Kimmel was not immediately returned.

Reuters, AP, Bloomberg

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