President Donald Trump dismissed reactions to the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show as an attack on free speech, saying the move was due to a “lack of talent.”
“Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else, and he said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk,” Trump said during a news conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
“They should have fired him a long time ago, so you know, you can call that free speech or not. He was fired for lack of talent,” he added.
During his recent monologues, Kimmel talked about Charlie Kirk’s killing and the aftermath.
“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,” Kimmel said in his monologue on Monday.
ABC announced Wednesday that Jimmy Kimmel Live! had been suspended indefinitely after Nextstar Communications Group, which operates about two dozen ABC-affiliated stations, criticized the host for his Kirk comments and said it would not air the show.
The move also came hours after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr called Kimmel’s comments “truly sick” and said his agency could “take action” against Disney and ABC.
Politicians, media personalities and comedians have both berated and cheered the move.
