Disney Pauses 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' Indefinitely After He Lied To Viewers About Charlie Kirk's Assassin
The Walt Disney Company paused Jimmy Kimmel Live indefinitely after host Jimmy Kimmel lied to viewers about Charlie Kirk’s assassin.
On Monday night, Kimmel asserted that Kirk’s assassin was a MAGA activist. He said, “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.”
By the time this episode had aired, Utah Governor Spencer Cox had already indicated that Kirk’s suspected assassin Tyler Robinson had a “leftist ideology.”
He told NBC News, “There clearly was a leftist ideology with this assassin.”
Additionally, he had previously informed the outlet, “We do know that the roommate that we originally talked about, we can confirm that that roommate is a boyfriend, who is transitioning from male to female. So we know that piece.”
Furthermore, authorities had also shared inscriptions on bullet casings, The casing on the fired bullet stated, “Notices bulges OWO What’s this?” According to Know Your Meme this phrase “is a copypasta parodying both furries and online roleplay subcultures, which is typically used online as a method of trolling.”
Inscriptions on three unfired cases read, “Hey fascists! Catch!” and “O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao,” and “If you read this you are gay lmao.”
Given the other inscriptions, it is quite possible the bella ciao inscription is a reference to the “Bella Ciao” song, which was used by Italian partisans fighting the German Nazis during World War II. It has become an anthem of the anti-fascist movement.
Additionally, Cox informed Kimmel’s own network ABC News that he described Robinson as having leftist ideology because the investigation had turned up evidence showing that. He explained, “That has come from his acquaintances and his family members. That’s where that initial information has come from. Certainly, there will be much more information released in the charging documents as they’re bringing all of that together."
Following Kimmel’s comments on Monday, Nexstar Media Group, which owns around 10% of all ABC affiliate stations, announced its stations would no longer run the Jimmy Kimmel show. In a press release, it stated, “Nexstar Media Group, Inc., today announced that the company’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.”
Andrew Alford, President of Nexstar’s broadcasting division explained, “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.”
He added, “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.”
Sinclair Broadcast Group followed suit announcing on X, “Due to problematic comments regarding the murder of Charlie Kirk in programming provided to broadcast stations by ABC, Sinclair and its partners, which operate ABC stations in 30 markets in the U.S., will stop airing Jimmy Kimmel’s show until further notice.”
These moves came after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr indicated he might pursue legal options against Disney for misleading the public. He informed Benny Johnson, “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,” he said. “The FCC could make a strong argument that this is sort of an intentional effort to mislead the American people about a very core fundamental fact, a very important matter.”
Additionally, he called on Disney to make change, “Disney needs to see some change here, but the individual licensed stations that are taking their content, it's time for them to step up and say this, you know, garbage to the extent that that's what comes down the pipe in the future isn't something that we think serves the needs of our local communities. But, but this sort of status quo is obviously not, not acceptable where we are."
After all of this Disney pulled Kimmel’s show and announced it would be on pause indefinitely. A spokesman said, “Jimmy Kimmel Live will be pre-empted indefinitely.”
While the company announced the show has been pre-empted indefinitely, sources tell Deadline the company hopes the show will be back on the air “soon.”
Disney was forced by advertisers.
Disney would not have pulled Kimmel in any kind of show of "good faith."
There is nothing good about Disney.