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Jimmy Kimmel has been suspended “indefinitely” from his role hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live!, ABC’s late night talk show.
On Monday, Kimmel claimed that the alleged Charlie Kirk shooter was MAGA. He either made that up or his manipulated algorithm fed it to him — but why didn’t his staff fact-check it? The alleged shooter was not MAGA. According to the indictment, his own mother said he was a radical leftist. There has never been proof that he was MAGA, so why would Kimmel say otherwise?
The Hollywood Reporter reports that Kimmel was planning to address the controversy on Wednesday’s show but not to apologize because he apparently was not sorry. He never got a chance because network syndicators Nexstar and Sinclair announced that they would not carry his show to their markets and ABC pulled him from the show shortly after.
This came just hours after FCC Chair Brendan Carr said that the agency could open an investigation about the incident. That would be a step too far. The marketplace should handle this — not the government. The First Amendment guarantees freedom from government prosecution of speech.
ABC and its affiliates are free to decide what they air, but the FCC should not be in the business of policing late-night monologues.
Some say Nexstar acted under government pressure. That’s possible. It’s also possible the network genuinely found these remarks deplorable and didn’t want them tied to their brand. As someone who has worked in TV for decades, those are the breaks. Network executives have no loyalty to their talent if it costs them in the ratings. I had a friend who was fired because her hair was deemed too frizzy.
I think that ABC is using this as an excuse to get rid of its late-night show the same way CBS did because he was bleeding viewers. It’s a bonus that they can blame Trump for it. These shows are money losers and, as one Google Review of Jimmy Kimmel Live put it, “Boomer TV.”