ABC Is Pulling Jimmy Kimmel’s Show After He Joked About The Charlie Kirk Assassination

Actions, meet consequences.

Regardless of how you feel about Charlie Kirk’s political views, it should go without saying that shooting somebody because you disagree with them should never be acceptable in the United States of America. Silencing those with opposing views is one of the key components of fascism, which is what those who oppose Charlie’s views claim to be fighting against.

That’s why it was so tragic when Kirk was assassinated on Wednesday during a stop on his The American Comeback tour at Utah Valley University.

Graphic video from the tragic scene showed a single shot striking Kirk in the neck before he fell to the ground and the crowd went running.

A suspect named Tyler Robinson, a 22-year old from Utah, was finally taken into the custody about 33 hours later.

Kirk, whose full name was Charles James Kirk, was an American conservative political activist, author, and media personality. He was famously known for being a founder of Turning Point USA, a nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative politics on high school, college, and university campuses. And he was also a devout Christian, often speaking about his faith and belief in Biblical values.

The popular political pundit was famous for traveling around to various college campuses, speaking to students on political topics. Given his outward right-wing views, his events often attracted many left-wing attendees anxious to debate or argue, and he was often the subject of protests and criticism from the left, though he encouraged thoughtful debate over violence and arguments.

Unfortunately, because of the times we live in, there were plenty of people who took to social media to celebrate the horrific assassination simply because they disagreed with his political views. Plenty of companies have let employees go, and had to release statements denouncing comments made by their employees, over the past few days.

And apparently even Jimmy Kimmel is having to deal with the consequences of his own words.

The late night host has come under fire for comments he made during his monologue on Monday, seeming to imply without evidence that the shooter was right-wing or “MAGA.”

“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.”

And he also joked about Trump’s reaction to the murder:

“In between the finger pointing, there was grieving.”

Well his comments not only landed Kimmel criticism online, but they also caught the attention of FCC chair Brendan Carr, who called Kimmel’s comments “truly sick” and said there was a “strong case” for action against ABC and parent company, Disney.

“This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.

They have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest.”

And it didn’t take long for the company to take action. Nexstar Media Group, the largest television station owner in the country (which also happens to be seeking government approval for a merger with another broadcast company, Tegna) announced that their ABC affiliates would be pulling Kimmel from its lineup:

“Nexstar strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets.”

Andrew Alford, the president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, also called Kimmel’s comments offensive and not reflective of the company, while saying that continuing to give Kimmel a platform is “not in the public interest.”

“Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located.

Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue.”

And when asked by a reporter if he had any comment on the decision to pull Kimmel’s show, the FCC chair apparently responded simply by sending a gif from The Office.

Couldn’t have happened to a better guy…except for maybe Stephen Colbert, who already lost his show anyway.