The real reasons why Kimmel’s show is off the air
So Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show on ABC has been taken off the air indefinitely following comments he made in a monologue about the shooting death of Charlie Kirk.
That’s how most media outlets described what happened. That’s how I described what happened in Thursday’s Poynter Report.
But that’s not exactly right.
As many pointed out in the past day, it would be more accurate to say ABC pulled Kimmel’s show off the air following comments made by FCC chair Brendan Carr.
On a conservative podcast, Carr essentially called for Kimmel’s show to be taken off the air, saying, “Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Within hours of Carr’s podcast appearance, Nexstar Media Group — which owns ABC affiliates in 32 markets across the U.S. — announced it was pulling Kimmel’s show “indefinitely.” ABC followed by saying it was taking Kimmel off the air.
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