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ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel reportedly refused to apologize for remarks that landed him in hot water and planned to further tear into Donald Trump supporters, insisting they “purposefully twisted” his words, before he was taken off the air by Disney executives.
Disney on Wednesday sidelined Kimmel “indefinitely” on the heels of controversial comments the late-night host made about the assassination of conservative icon Charlie Kirk. The move came as Disney faced mounting pressure from ABC affiliate stations around the country, as well as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), setting off a national debate around free speech and alleged censorship.
Kimmel had planned to address the controversy in his Wednesday monologue, according to The Wall Street Journal. But Disney Entertainment co-chair Dana Walden, a top Kimmel ally, believed his planned remarks “could make the situation worse.”
DISNEY’S JIMMY KIMMEL BENCHING PROMPTS CELEBRATION, BUT ALSO CAUTION, FROM CONSERVATIVES
Disney-owned ABC sidelined Jimmy Kimmel “indefinitely” this week. (Randy Holmes/Disney via Getty Images)
Kimmel “was planning to say that his words were being purposefully twisted by some members of the Make America Great Again movement,” the Journal reported.
Walden and Disney CEO Bob Iger made the decision to bench Kimmel, sources told Fox Business. The decision came shortly after Nexstar, the owner of 32 ABC affiliate stations, said it would preempt his show “for the foreseeable future.” Sinclair Broadcast Group followed suit, yanking his show from its ABC affiliates and demanding Kimmel apologize.
The saga began on Monday when Kimmel accused conservatives of reaching “new lows” in trying to pin a left-wing ideology on 22-year-old suspect Tyler Robinson.
“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.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” has been a hotbed of anti-Trump commentary. (Randy Holmes/Disney via Getty Images)
Kimmel’s comments came one day after both FBI officials and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said that Robinson held a “leftist ideology” and was increasingly radicalized in recent years. It was also revealed that he had a romantic relationship with a transgender partner who was biologically male and transitioning to female.
Prosecutors later reaffirmed those ideological ties in Tuesday’s indictment.
Kimmel “was not planning on apologizing” and “felt that what he said did not require an apology,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
FCC CHAIR LEVELS THREAT AGAINST ABC, DISNEY AFTER KIMMEL SUGGESTED CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSIN WAS ‘MAGA’
Jimmy Kimmel reportedly refused to apologize for controversial remarks about the assassination of Charlie Kirk before he was taken off the air by Disney honchos. (Randy Holmes/Disney)
Kimmel’s planned Wednesday monologue further attacking Trump supporters was “very hot,” and he needed to take “down the temperature,” CNN reported, citing a source familiar with the situation.
Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” has seen its ratings drop significantly over the past decade, as the program averaged 2.4 million viewers in 2015 and has been trending downward ever since. Kimmel’s program averaged 2.2 million in 2016 and 2017, fell to 2.1 million in 2018, dropped to 1.9 million in 2019 and sunk to 1.8 million in 2020. By 2021, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” managed only 1.5 million nightly viewers.
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Kimmel’s 2025 average viewership of 1.6 million is down 37% compared to 2015 totals.
The decline is even more significant among the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults, ages 25-54. “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” averaged nearly 1 million viewers in the critical demo in 2015 but plummeted to only 261,000 in 2025. The ABC late-night program shed a staggering 72% of the critical demo over the past decade.
Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Suzanne O’Halloran contributed to this report.
