ABC canceled Jimmy Kimmel's show indefinitely after controversial comments about the murder of Charlie Kirk

ABC announced Wednesday that it will withdraw Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show indefinitely from its programming schedule after Nexstar Media, which is one of the largest owners of television stations in the country, communicated its plan to stop airing the show following comments the host made aboutthe murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Nexstar reported 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, beginning with tonight’s show." Similarly, the company noted 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."

What did Kimmel say about Kirk?

During his Monday night monologue, Kimmel commented that the "MAGA gang" was trying to take political advantage of Kirk's murder. "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 said. The host and commentator also ironized President Donald Trump's response to a question from reporters about how he was mourning the deathof the young conservative activist, as the Republican leader deflected the topic to the construction of a new White House ballroom.

For his part, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, had gone so far as to threaten ABC this Wednesday morning with action that he did not detail. After learning of the decision of the media, which is part of Disney, Carr explained: "I want to thank Nexstar for doing the right thing. Local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest. While this may be an unprecedented decision, it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community."

Shortly before the cancellation of Kimmel's show, Carr had commented during a radio talk show interview that the comedian and host could face a federal investigation for commenting live on air that Kirk's killer, Tyler Robinson, was a Republican. "When you look at the conduct that has taken place by Jimmy Kimmel, it appears to be some of the sickest conduct possible. As you've indicated, there are avenues here for the FCC, so there... are some ways in which I need to be a little bit careful because we could be called ultimately to be a judge on some of these claims that come up," Carr commented.