Trump denied that the White House had anything to do with the suspension of Kimmel's show and took aim at his ratings

Donald Trump returned to the indefinite suspension of the American Broadcasting Company's (ABC) Jimmy Kimmel show. Moments before departing for the American Cornerstone Institute's annual dinner, the president fielded questions from reporters about the TV host's situation.

In his monologue on Monday, Sept. 15, Kimmel had this to say about the killing of Charlie Kirk: "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." His comments came after young Tyler Robinson was confirmed as the prime suspect. According to a conversation he had with his roommate and partner, Robinson wrote that he shot the Turning Point USA founder because he was fed up with his "hate."

Days later, and as a result of these comments, the indefinite cancellation of Kimmel's program was announced. Nexstar, owner of local ABC-affiliated stations, assured in a statement that it "strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets."

In this context, the president was asked by the press about the reasons that led to the indefinite suspension of Kimmel's late-night program. "Did your administration pressure ABC to suspend Jimmy Kimmel?" asked one of the reporters present. "No. Not at all. I think Jimmy Kimmel's terrible. You know what suspended him? His talent," Trump responded.

"You know what else is this is really what takes a look at this guy, his ratings. That's what got Jimmy Kimmel out. He was terrible. And you know what? I saw a report where ABC lost millions of dollars with him. So that's what suspended Jimmy Kimmel," he added.

According to monthly Nielsen reports, the 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' show tallied 1.1 million viewers in August 2025, down 43% from the 1.95 million recorded in January.

Already at the dinner of the American Cornerstone Institute, an institute run by Ben Carson and dedicated to promoting "conservative, sensible solutions to the problems facing our society," the Republican recalled Kirk.

"Everybody is devastated. So tomorrow we'll go down there, we'll fly down, and we'll see. There were words, but there are no words to really describe what happened. It should never have happened to him. He's a good person. Nobody deserves that, but he really deserved it," he said.

During his speech, Trump confirmed that he will present the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Carson, who served during his first term as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. It is the highest civilian award in the United States. Carson already received the distinction in 2008 from George W. Bush, but there are no institutional impediments to his receiving the award again.