Trump Blasts Kimmel as “Talentless” on Air Force One, Says Show Should Lose Its License

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – President Donald Trump on Thursday publicly declared that late-night host Jimmy Kimmel was effectively "fired for lack of talent," escalating his commentary on the matter just as The Walt Disney Company made the extraordinary decision to suspend Kimmel's flagship ABC program indefinitely. The move came amid a rapidly intensifying firestorm involving the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, a revolt by major television station owners, and mounting advertiser anxiety, all stemming from remarks Kimmel made about the recent assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, President Trump was unequivocal in his assessment. “Anybody can replace him. The guy had no talent. Kimmel had, look, he was fired, he had no talent. He's a whack job,” Trump said.

He then linked the situation to a broader threat against media outlets, suggesting that the broadcast licenses of networks critical of his administration could be scrutinized. “That's something that should be talked about for licensing, too. When you have a network and you have evening shows and all they do is hit Trump… They're licensed. They're not allowed to do that. They're an arm of the Democrat Party,” the president stated.

Earlier in the day, during a press conference in England alongside United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump had asserted, “Jimmy Kimmel was fired 'cause he had bad ratings more than anything else… He was fired for lack of talent.”

This presidential intervention capped a tumultuous 48-hour period that saw a convergence of political, regulatory, and commercial pressures placed upon one of America's largest media conglomerates, quickly transforming the programming decision into what The New York Times described as a "flashpoint for free speech" under the Trump administration.

While a Disney spokesperson confirmed to Fox News Digital on Wednesday that “Jimmy Kimmel Live will be preempted indefinitely,” multiple reports based on interviews with insiders clarified that Kimmel has been suspended, not terminated, as the company navigates the crisis.

The controversy began with a monologue on Monday's episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" in which the host addressed the killing of Charlie Kirk.

“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,” Kimmel told his audience, later criticizing President Trump’s grieving process as being akin to “how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

The comments drew immediate and fierce condemnation from conservatives, but the situation escalated dramatically on Wednesday when Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, weighed in.

During an appearance on "The Benny Show," a conservative podcast, Carr characterized Kimmel's conduct as "some of the sickest conduct possible" and issued a direct warning to ABC. “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,” Fox News reported.

Carr, described by The New York Times as a veteran Republican regulator who helped write the conservative policy playbook Project 2025, suggested the FCC could take action against the broadcast licenses of ABC-owned stations.

Carr's remarks appeared to trigger a swift corporate reaction. According to the Wall Street Journal, advertisers and local affiliates soon began calling the network to express their concern. Two of the nation's largest broadcast groups, Nexstar Media Group, Inc., and Sinclair, Inc., then took the highly unusual step of defying the network.

Nexstar announced its stations would preempt Kimmel’s show “for the foreseeable future,” and Sinclair, which operates ABC stations in 30 markets, followed suit, citing “problematic comments regarding the murder of Charlie Kirk.” Both actions hobbled the program’s national reach. FCC Chairman Carr subsequently praised both companies in posts on the social media platform X for “doing the right thing.”

The decision by Nexstar, a Texas-based broadcaster, was particularly notable.

According to both the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, the company is in the process of seeking the FCC's approval for a massive $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna, a deal that would create a sprawling conglomerate requiring regulatory sign-off from Carr's agency.

A Nexstar spokesman stated that the decision to pull Kimmel’s show was made unilaterally by the company’s senior executive team and that they had no prior communication with the FCC.

Inside Disney, the situation was reaching a critical point. According to detailed accounts in both the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, which cited multiple anonymous sources involved in the deliberations, Kimmel had prepared a monologue for his Wednesday show to address the controversy head-on.

A person close to the show told the Wall Street Journal that Kimmel planned to argue his words were being purposefully twisted. However, after Disney Entertainment co-chairman Dana Walden spoke with the host about his plan, she and other senior executives, including Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger, became concerned that his approach could "make the situation worse" and further "inflame the situation."

Compounding their concerns were growing safety issues. The Wall Street Journal reported that staff on Kimmel's show had received threatening emails and some of their personal information had been posted online. With time running out before the 4:30 p.m. taping in Hollywood, Iger and Walden made the call to temporarily take the show dark.

The fallout was immediate and widespread. The decision was celebrated by President Trump, who took to Truth Social on Wednesday night to declare, “Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED.”

Meanwhile, it was fiercely condemned within Hollywood's creative community. Unions for actors and producers, collectively representing over 400,000 workers, issued statements critical of Disney’s move. Damon Lindelof, a co-creator of the classic ABC drama “Lost,” defended Kimmel on Instagram and stated he wouldn't want to work for the company that took him off the air. Famed former late-night host David Letterman, speaking at an event on Thursday, warned, “We all see where this is going, correct? It’s managed media. And it’s no good.”

Some media critics and political figures voiced fears of a chilling effect on speech. One Democratic senator accused the administration of censorship, while former President Barack Obama said it had embraced its own version of cancel culture, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The incident drew parallels to CBS’s recent decision to cancel Stephen Colbert’s late-night show, a move that prompted Kimmel to remark on air just two months ago, after reading a Trump social media post predicting he was next: “Which is alarming, because, I don’t know if you know this, but Jimmy Kimmel is me.”

The episode highlights the complex and often unseen financial and political dynamics governing the broadcast industry, particularly the strained relationship between national networks and the local affiliate stations that provide their reach.

It also underscores the significant leverage the Trump administration can wield over media companies reliant on federal agencies like the FCC, especially when major mergers and acquisitions are pending. Lee Levine, a retired media lawyer, told the Wall Street Journal, “Whenever the cudgel has been pretty significant, sooner or later the network caved in the recent past.”

This history includes a $15 million settlement ABC paid to settle a defamation suit from Trump and a $16 million settlement Paramount paid over a “60 Minutes” interview while its merger with Skydance Media was under FCC review. As one member of Kimmel's standards and practices team wrote on Facebook, “We live in very unnerving and surreal times.”