Following the removal of Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the airwaves, Seth Meyers has chosen to share his thoughts on the matter.
On Wednesday, September 17, a representative from ABC confirmed to PEOPLE that the late-night program hosted by Jimmy Kimmel will be taken off the air permanently. On September 10, right-wing figure Charlie Kirk was fatally murdered while giving a speech at Utah Valley University. During his monologue on September 15, the host made some remarks regarding Kirk. The presenter’s statements contributed to the decision that was reached.
Kimmel made a reference to President Donald Trump’s followers of the “Make America Great Again” movement during his monologue. Kimmel said, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.”
Kimmel, on the other hand, has already expressed his sympathies to the family of Kirk on social media.
“Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human?” On September 10, he wrote. “On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.”
On Thursday, September 18th, Meyers devoted the “A Closer Look” part of Late Night to the connection between Trump and the media as well as to the issue of free speech.
As the crowd chuckled, Meyers remarked, “His administration is pursuing a crackdown on free speech. I would like to mention, before we begin, that I have always admired and respected Mr. Trump; this is completely unrelated.” In my opinion, he has always been a terrific president, an innovator, and a visionary, as well as a fantastic golfer. If you have ever seen me say anything nasty about him, that’s simply the artificial intelligence speaking.
Later on, Meyers became more serious and said to the audience, “It is a pleasure and an honor to call Jimmy Kimmel my buddy, just as it is a privilege and honor to put on this show every single week. Every day, I get up and thank my gratitude that I live in a nation that at least claims to cherish freedom of expression. We will continue to perform our program the way that we have always done it: with excitement and integrity.
This, the comedian said, was “a huge moment in our democracy.” He went on to say, “We must all stand up for the ideas of free speech. There is a rationale to the fact that freedom of expression is enshrined in the first amendment.
Nexstar Media informed PEOPLE in a statement that its “owned and partner television stations affiliated with the ABC Television Network will preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the foreseeable future, starting with tonight’s show.”
The move was justified by the company’s “strong objection to the recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel regarding the killing of Charlie Kirk.”
As of now, Kimmel has not made any statements on the story.
In a statement to PEOPLE, Andrew Alford, the president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, commented on Kimmel’s statements by saying, “We find Kimmel’s comments 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.”
According to a statement from Alford, continuing to provide a broadcast platform for Mr. Kimmel in the communities that we serve is simply not in the public interest at this time. As a result, we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to allow cooler heads to prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue. According to a press release, Nexstar has revealed intentions to buy Tegna, a competing broadcast firm, for $6.2 billion. This enormous acquisition would further dominate the local television market and place Nexstar in 80% of American homes who possess televisions. The takeover will need to get the ultimate go light from the Federal Communications Commission, which is now headed by President Trump.
On Wednesday, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr commended Nexstar in a hurry for exerting pressure on ABC to remove Kimmel. Carr’s message on X said that “it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values.”
