# ABC pulls Jimmy Kimmel show indefinitely because of comments about GOP response to Charlie Kirk death. (Kimmel will be back on air Tuesday 2025-09-23) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 17, 2025, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death-kimmel-will-be-back-on-air-tuesday-2025-09-23/1023138 "2025-09-17T23:27:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 23
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death-kimmel-will-be-back-on-air-tuesday-2025-09-23/1023138/444 "2025-09-25T00:18:39Z")
AFAICT every ABC station that has refused to run Kimmel is owned either by Sinclair or Nextstar, and the decision was made at the corporate level, not by individual stations. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death-kimmel-will-be-back-on-air-tuesday-2025-09-23/1023138/445 "2025-09-25T02:11:22Z")
[Today’s situation:](https://www.al.com/news/2025/09/how-long-will-nexstar-sinclair-keep-jimmy-kimmel-off-the-air-for-25-of-the-viewing-public.html?outputType=amp) > [@](#): > > On Wednesday, Nexstar said that it is “continuing to evaluate the status of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ on our ABC-affiliated local television stations, and the show will be preempted while we do so. We are engaged in productive discussions with executives at The Walt Disney Company, with a focus on ensuring the program reflects and respects the diverse interests of the communities we serve.” Maybe they could change it to Jimmy Kimmel Taped! Then he could do one monologue for red markets, and another for blue. Everyone happy! Just have to find a way to make sure 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is coded red. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death-kimmel-will-be-back-on-air-tuesday-2025-09-23/1023138/446 "2025-09-25T02:24:23Z")
Sounds to me like Nexstar is feeling some heat, possibly because local stations are getting angry calls. The weasel wording of that quote makes me expect they will be airing Kimmel again by next week. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death-kimmel-will-be-back-on-air-tuesday-2025-09-23/1023138/447 "2025-09-25T02:45:07Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > The weasel wording of that quote makes me expect they will be airing Kimmel again by next week. And then what happens to the Tegna acquisition? ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death-kimmel-will-be-back-on-air-tuesday-2025-09-23/1023138/448 "2025-09-25T03:45:46Z")
Your guess is as good as mine. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death-kimmel-will-be-back-on-air-tuesday-2025-09-23/1023138/449 "2025-09-25T03:48:52Z")
Well, he’s really ripping into Trump tonight. Plenty of jabs at Trump and his Twuths. And a part on what he called “Escalategate.” ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death-kimmel-will-be-back-on-air-tuesday-2025-09-23/1023138/450 "2025-09-25T03:50:52Z")
Yep, they will probably forget about the Tegna merger in the midst of searching for the evil escalator terrorist. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death-kimmel-will-be-back-on-air-tuesday-2025-09-23/1023138/451 "2025-09-25T03:52:27Z")
The right wing dirty tricksters were out in force, posting all over Facebook that ABC had put him back on suspension so there was no need to tune in ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death-kimmel-will-be-back-on-air-tuesday-2025-09-23/1023138/452 "2025-09-25T03:56:07Z")
Well, I figure if Trump is this hot on getting Kimmel axed, it’s worth my time to watch his monologue every night before bed. So that’s now gonna be my nightly thing. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death-kimmel-will-be-back-on-air-tuesday-2025-09-23/1023138/453 "2025-09-25T04:21:06Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Maybe they could change it to Jimmy Kimmel Taped! Then he could do one monologue for red markets, and another for blue. Everyone happy! Just have to find a way to make sure 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is coded red. Not a bad idea. Other than debasing himself, though, what makes these dolts laugh? ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death-kimmel-will-be-back-on-air-tuesday-2025-09-23/1023138/454 "2025-09-25T04:24:57Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > No, it is not. They specifically said the danegeld, I mean the considerable contribution, was to go to Kirk’s organization, the one his wife now runs. I didn’t mean that a donation to the ACLU would satisfy Sinclair or Nextstar. I mean that it would be a donation to an organization that supports something that Kirk supposedly also supported - free speech (again, per the talking heads). Maybe call it the “Charlie Kirk Free Speech Defense Fund”,. But it would be a donation that would still make many RWNJ heads explode because, well, ACLU. Basically a defensible “fuck you” to Sinclair and Nextstar. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death-kimmel-will-be-back-on-air-tuesday-2025-09-23/1023138/455 "2025-09-25T04:35:46Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > Other than debasing himself, though, what makes these dolts laugh? That’s why this wouldn’t work. Conservative humor usually involves punching down. Ha ha, those minorities sure are bad, right? Jimmy wouldn’t do that. I guess you could have two feeds - one political and one relatively apoltical. But you coudln’t have one that engaged in conservative humor. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death-kimmel-will-be-back-on-air-tuesday-2025-09-23/1023138/456 "2025-09-25T04:53:11Z")
I hope Jimmy doesn’t EVER agree to two monologues. That’s not the way to fight back. Clear capitulation, it would seem to me. I sent emails to my local ABC station and the governors office today. Got a form letters about “looking into my concerns”. I just know Sarah Sanders read it. 🤔 I’m moving on to my representatives next. They’re all red but I’m doing it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death-kimmel-will-be-back-on-air-tuesday-2025-09-23/1023138/457 "2025-09-25T13:36:55Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > Yep, they will probably forget about the Tegna merger in the midst of searching for the evil escalator terrorist. One never knows. But this is underestimating the adversary. If Trump and Carr give up on controlling mainstream TV news, that’s the ball game. Rotation in office will bring back the Democrats to power. Kimmel is then a critical early test of whether MAGA can do what is needed to stay in power. On the other hand, if Trump gets bigger wins on the media front – say, Bari Weiss being named editor in chief of CBS News, and [Larry Ellison purchasing CNN](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/technology/larry-ellison-oracle-tiktok.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ok8.nSgL.55SPZCMpo1-2&smid=url-share) – tolerating a few late night comics would be a livable way to appease Ted Cruz types who like a nod to free speech. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death-kimmel-will-be-back-on-air-tuesday-2025-09-23/1023138/458 "2025-09-25T14:46:30Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > _Conservative humor usually involves punching down. Ha ha, those minorities sure are bad, right?_ I seem to recall a short-lived “comedy” show with a conservative slant was tried by Fox News a few years ago, in response to the popularity of “The Daily Show.” I watched one episode. It was awful. Mean-spirited and cruel. (Like Trump’s “humor.”) Punching up at fat cats is funny. Punching down at minorities and poor people isn’t, which they soon discovered. It was such an exercise in blind stupidity that it’s hard to believe anyone thought it was a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death-kimmel-will-be-back-on-air-tuesday-2025-09-23/1023138/459 "2025-09-25T14:56:24Z")
I once saw a bit of some Dennis Miller stand-up and this is the joke I remember ‘Hillary Clinton… what a bitch’ that’s it, that’s the entire joke. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death-kimmel-will-be-back-on-air-tuesday-2025-09-23/1023138/460 "2025-09-25T15:08:51Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > Punching up at fat cats is funny. Punching down at minorities and poor people isn’t, which they soon discovered. It was such an exercise in blind stupidity that it’s hard to believe anyone thought it was a good idea. The other thing is that The Daily Show (and Last Week Tonight and others) also punch **at themselves**. It’s the willingness to self-deprecate that drives a lot of their comedy. Most of the current right-wing “comedians” are too fucking insecure to ever do that. (And the ones that have have tended to be the ones who are actually funny.) ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death-kimmel-will-be-back-on-air-tuesday-2025-09-23/1023138/461 "2025-09-25T15:50:05Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Kimmel is then a critical early test I had shared, this thread or another, not sure, how my irrational brain experienced Kimmel getting pulled in response to executive branch threats as my point of despair. Irrational as there have been and continue to be more horrific things happening every day, but this hit despair for me. But yes. This has been the test. Maybe. Maybe just maybe. Maybe there is hope yet. Maybe when we look back this will be the inflection point of hitting bottom and starting to climb back? Kimmel being taken off had outsized impact on me, even though I don’t watch him and was no fan, and obviously I was in good company. His getting back on without bended knee. His call against the un-Americaness of Trump. Also an outsized and irrational influence on me and I hope on many others. To steal from a recently heard liturgy, it may be the blast, the call, that wakes a people from its slumber. The democratic experiment ain’t quite dead quite yet after all. Maybe. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death-kimmel-will-be-back-on-air-tuesday-2025-09-23/1023138/462 "2025-09-25T15:52:09Z")
We watched the Kimmel comeback show last night on Hulu. Under enormous pressure and scrutiny, I thought he threaded the needle very well. No apologies or walkbacks for things he didn’t actually say or mean, but he did at least attempt to reach across the political divide to explain himself and his actual intentions, and handled the entire matter with tact and sensitivity, I thought. Like Kimmel said, he didn’t expect to change any minds, but any right-winger or MAGA type who watched that video and still came away saying Kimmel is a lying, evil America-hater is either being disingenuous, or is just so fossilized in their beliefs that there’s no hope for them whatsoever. And despite the fact that the subject matter didn’t provide for the greatest comedy material, there were some good laughs. My wife and I LOL’ed when he read the letter he said Disney was making him read; that was a good meta-bit. I’m glad he’s back, and not just because it’s win for freedom of speech. Jon Stewart and John Oliver may do it best, and Seth Meyers has some good political commentary with a humorous slant, but among the Big 3 network talk show hosts, Fallon is toothless; Colbert has some good biting political satire, but I like Kimmel best. He’s (or more accurately I guess, his writers) just a little bit more witty, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death-kimmel-will-be-back-on-air-tuesday-2025-09-23/1023138/463 "2025-09-25T21:20:14Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > As of now, the youtube clip had \> 5.9 million views As of now, 20,600,000 and counting…. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death-kimmel-will-be-back-on-air-tuesday-2025-09-23/1023138.md?page=22) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death-kimmel-will-be-back-on-air-tuesday-2025-09-23/1023138.md?page=24)