ABC made a fast programming change on Wednesday, September 17, after pulling Jimmy Kimmel Stay! from the air.
A rerun of Steve Harvey‘s Celeb Household Feud aired instead of the late night time discuss present on Wednesday. The swap got here after an ABC spokesperson confirmed to Us Weekly that Jimmy Kimmel‘s present can be “pre-empted indefinitely” following backlash over the comic’s current remarks about conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
Kimmel, 57, raised eyebrows on Monday, September 15, whereas discussing Kirk’s accused killer, Tyler Robinson, within the monologue of his present. Kirk, 31, was fatally shot on September 10 whereas talking at Utah Valley College.
In his monologue, Kimmel claimed conservatives — together with Utah Governor Spencer Cox — had reached “new lows” by assuming Robinson, 22, was affiliated with the far-left.
“The MAGA Gang [is] desperately making an attempt to characterize this child who murdered Charlie Kirk as something apart from one in every of them and doing every little thing they’ll to attain political factors from it,” Kimmel mentioned on Monday. “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”

Steve Harvey hosts ‘Celeb Household Feud’ Photograph by Wilford Harewood/Disney by way of Getty Photos
Robinson was charged with capital offense aggravated homicide and felony discharge of a firearm after turning himself in earlier this month. He’s additionally dealing with a number of counts of obstruction of justice, witness tampering and fee of a violent offense within the presence of a kid.
Following the controversial monologue, Federal Communications Fee (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr known as for Kimmel to apologize and argued a “suspension” from ABC could possibly be thought-about.
“We are able to do that the straightforward method or the arduous method,” he mentioned on The Benny Present on Wednesday. “These firms can discover methods to alter conduct and take actions on Kimmel, or there’s going to be extra work for the FCC forward.”
In accordance with Selection, the Disney-owned community finally determined to take away Kimmel from the air “indefinitely” after Nexstar Media threatened to axe the late night time present from its lineup.
Nexstar informed the outlet that its “owned and companion tv stations affiliated with the ABC Tv Community will preempt Jimmy Kimmel Stay! for the foreseeable future, starting with tonight’s present.”
Sinclair Broadcast Group, the biggest ABC affiliate group within the nation, has additionally decided about what to air instead of Jimmy Kimmel Stay! Starting Friday, September 19, a particular honoring Kirk might be proven in Kimmel’s timeslot. A press launch said that the particular is being supplied to all ABC associates throughout the U.S.
Kimmel has but to publicly tackle his present being pulled — Wednesday’s episode would have featured Wanda Sykes, Jay Shetty and chef Christian Petroni — however he beforehand despatched condolences to the Kirk household within the aftermath of the Utah capturing.
“As a substitute of offended finger-pointing, can we only for sooner or later agree that it’s horrible and monstrous to shoot one other human?” he wrote by way of Instagram on September 10. “On behalf of my household, we ship like to the Kirks and to all the kids, mother and father and innocents who fall sufferer to mindless gun violence.”