‘The Big Money Show’ panel discusses ABC’s choice to tug Jimmy Kimmel’s exhibit the air after he made controversial feedback concerning the Charlie Kirk assassination.
ABC sidelined late-night discuss present host Jimmy Kimmel over his controversial feedback concerning the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk after Nexstar Media Group mentioned it might preempt Kimmel’s present.
A spokesperson for ABC, which is owned by Disney, mentioned in an announcement on Wednesday that “Jimmy Kimmel Live will be preempted indefinitely,” following an announcement by certainly one of its main broadcasting companions that it might cease airing Kimmel’s present indefinitely.
Nexstar, the proprietor of 32 ABC affiliate stations, mentioned Wednesday that it “strongly objects” to Kimmel’s feedback and mentioned that it might preempt his present “for the foreseeable future beginning with tonight’s show.”
ABC mentioned in an announcement on Wednesday that “Jimmy Kimmel Live will be preempted indefinitely.” (Michael Le Brecht/Disney through Getty Pictures)
“Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located,” Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, mentioned in an announcement.
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“Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue,” Alford added.
What’s Nexstar?
Nexstar Media Group is a media group that’s the largest native tv broadcasting group within the U.S., with greater than 200 owned or companion stations that serve 220 million individuals in 116 U.S. markets.
Ticker Safety Final Change Change % NXST NEXSTAR MEDIA GROUP 206.40 +0.48
+0.23%
DIS THE WALT DISNEY CO. 114.86 -1.24
-1.06%
DOZENS OF ABC STATIONS TO AIR CHARLIE KIRK TRIBUTE SPECIAL DURING JIMMY KIMMEL’S TIME SLOT
Nexstar famous that its station footprint overlaps with Tegna in 35 of Tegna’s 51 market areas, whereas additionally boosting its affiliate community in key election markets like Phoenix, Atlanta, Toledo, Ohio, and Portland, Maine, to extend political promoting income.
Nexstar’s acquisition of Tegna requires the approval of the Federal Communications Fee (FCC).
Conservative activist and Turning Level USA founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated throughout a campus occasion at Utah Valley College this month. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Pictures / Getty Pictures)
DISNEY SAYS JIMMY KIMMEL’S SHOW WILL BE PREEMPTED INDEFINITELY FOLLOWING CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSINATION COMMENTS
What did Kimmel say?
“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 mentioned throughout his monologue on Monday’s episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Kimmel additionally criticized President Donald Trump’s response to Kirk’s demise, saying it “is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish.”
He additionally mentioned that FBI Director Kash Patel has dealt with the Kirk assassination investigation “like a kid who didn’t read the book, BSing his way through an oral report.”
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr praised Nexstar’s transfer to preempt Kimmel’s present and mentioned that “it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values.”
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FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr praised the transfer by networks to drop Kimmel’s present following his feedback. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Pictures / Getty Pictures)
Previous to the announcement by Nexstar and by Sinclair, one other broadcasting group with ABC associates opted to preempt Kimmel’s present. Carr mentioned on podcaster Benny Johnson’s present that Kimmel’s feedback had been a “very, very serious issue now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” He additionally inspired licensed stations to say that this kind of content material would not serve their native communities.
Carr’s feedback prompted criticism from free speech advocates, with the Basis for Particular person Rights and Expression (FIRE) saying that, “The FCC has no authority to control what a late night TV host can say, and the First Amendment protects Americans’ right to speculate on current events even if those speculations later turn out to be incorrect.”
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“Subjecting broadcasters to regulatory liability when anyone on their network gets something wrong would turn the FCC into an arbiter of truth and cast an intolerable chill over the airwaves,” FIRE added.
