Jimmy Kimmel is done with his talk show, at least for the time being. On Wednesday, ABC confirmed that Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be preempted “for the foreseeable future,” beginning with Wednesday’s show.
While the network has come in for a lot of criticism after its decision, Donald Trump, who is on a state visit in the UK, praised it, calling Jimmy Kimmel a “loser.”
End of an era?
Jimmy Kimmel has delivered the last episode of his talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!. On Wednesday, Nexstar Media Group and partner television stations affiliated with ABC Television Network announced that they will preempt the talk show. This comes after Kimmel’s comments on the murder of Charlie Kirk
“Nexstar’s owned and partner television stations affiliated with the ABC Television Network will preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the foreseeable future beginning with tonight’s show,” said the company in a statement on Wednesday
“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.”
It was on Monday night that Jimmy Kimmel commented on the killing of Charlie Kirk, saying: “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.”
He also criticized that flags were being lowered to half-mast in honor of Kirk. Moreover, Kimmel also mocked President Donald Trump’s reaction to the shooting.
“This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he calls a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish,” the talkshow host added.
Donald Trump praises decision to cancel Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show
Kimmel received hefty criticism after the comments. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr condemned the host in an interview with YouTuber Benny Johnson, threatening to revoke the licenses of ABC affiliates that continued to broadcast Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
“It’s really sort of past time that a lot of these licensed broadcasters themselves push back on Comcast and Disney to say, ‘Listen, we are going to preempt, we aren’t going to run Kimmel anymore until you straighten this out. Because we licensed broadcasters are running the possibility of fines or license revocations from the FCC if we continue to run content with a pattern of news distortion,” Carr said.
Trump has criticized several talkshow hosts for comments made over the years. The President of the United States, alongside his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, is currently in the UK on a state visit.
Late Wednesday, UK time, he commented on the cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show. He has previously called Kimmel “untalented.”
Through his Truth Social account, Trump wrote, “Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth [Myers], two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!” Trump wrote.
Jimmy Kimmel ‘was not intending to apologize’
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Kimmel had been preparing to address the backlash he received on Wednesday night’s show. However, it got cancelled before that.
The news outlet claims that Kimmel intended to clarify his comments, which had been taken out of context, though was not intending to apologize.
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