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Trump says Jimmy Kimmel pulled off air due to 'lack of talent'
By Alex Nitzberg
Published September 18, 2025
President Donald Trump claimed that late night television host Jimmy Kimmel's program was yanked off the air because Kimmel lacks talent.
"Jimmy Kimmel was fired 'cause he had bad ratings more than anything else and he said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk. And Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person, he had very bad ratings and they shoulda fired him a long time ago," Trump asserted during a press conference alongside United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer in England.
"He was fired for lack of talent," Trump said of Kimmel.
As Fox News Digital reported on Wednesday, a Disney spokesperson said, "Jimmy Kimmel Live will be preempted indefinitely." Fox News Digital reached out to the company on Thursday to request a comment on the president's remarks in England, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Jimmy Kimmel attended the 2025 Creative Arts Emmy Awards at Peacock Theater on Sept. 7, 2025 in Los Angeles. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
In a Truth Social post on Wednesday night, Trump had celebrated the removal of Kimmel's show.
"Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. 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. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!" the president declared in the post.
The move to pull Kimmel's show from the air came amid backlash regarding comments the TV host made suggesting that the shooter accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk is a Trump supporter.
Kimmel said on Monday's episode of his show that the "MAGA gang" had been attempting to "characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them," seeking to "score political points from it."
During an appearance Wednesday on conservative commentator Benny Johnson's "The Benny Show," Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr said Kimmel's conduct "appears to be some of the sickest conduct possible."
He warned, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to … take action … on Kimmel or," he continued, there would "be additional work for the FCC ahead."
DOZENS OF ABC STATIONS TO AIR CHARLIE KIRK TRIBUTE SPECIAL DURING JIMMY KIMMEL'S TIME SLOT
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Nexstar Media Group, Inc., objecting to Kimmel's comments, declared on Wednesday that "the company’s 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."
Sinclair, Inc., also announced on Wednesday that "Due to problematic comments regarding the murder of Charlie Kirk in programming provided to broadcast stations by ABC, Sinclair and its partners, which operate ABC stations in 30 markets in the U.S., will stop airing Jimmy Kimmel’s show until further notice."
Carr thanked Sinclair and Nexstar in posts on X after they announced the moves.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-says-jimmy-kimmel-pulled-off-air-due-lack-talent