President Donald Trump spoke out after ABC decided to take Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air.
The network said it would pause the show indefinitely after host Jimmy Kimmel mentioned the recent assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk during a monologue, questioning the president’s response.
During Trump’s state visit to the United Kingdom on Thursday, Sept. 18, the 79-year-old president called Kimmel’s break from the show a firing.
“Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else and he said a horrible thing about a great man named Charlie Kirk,” Trump said. “Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person, he had very bad ratings, and they should have fired him a long time ago.”
“You can call that free speech or not,” he added. “He was fired for lack of talent.”
The remarks that caused controversy came during the Monday, Sept. 15, episode of Kimmel’s show.
“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 between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”
He also showed a clip of Trump taking questions from reporters after the shooting. When asked how he was handling Kirk’s death, Trump said, “I think very good, and by the way, right there where you see all the trucks, they just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House.”
Kimmel commented, “Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief: construction.” He added, “This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish.”
The host also showed another clip of Trump on Sept. 12 on Fox & Friends, recalling what he was doing when he heard about Kirk’s death. Trump said he was meeting with architects about a new White House ballroom when he was told, “‘Charlie Kirk is dead.'” He said he was shocked by the news.
Kimmel sarcastically added, “And then we installed the most beautiful chandelier. Sconces you wouldn’t believe. There’s something wrong with him, there really is. Who thinks like that?” He also questioned why a $200 million ballroom was being built, joking about distractions from other news.
A Disney ABC spokesperson confirmed the show would go on indefinite hiatus on Wednesday, Sept. 17, following Kimmel’s comments. The move came after Nexstar Media threatened to preempt airings of Jimmy Kimmel Live! in its markets.
Nexstar said 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.” Nexstar is the largest local broadcast and digital media company in the U.S., with more than 200 TV stations. It recently announced plans to acquire rival company Tegna for $6.2 billion, which will require approval from the Trump-controlled Federal Communications Commission.
On Wednesday night, Trump, visiting the U.K. with his wife, Melania Trump, praised ABC on Truth Social.
“Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED,” he wrote.
“Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible,” he added, also criticizing late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers.
“That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!! President DJ,” he wrote.
