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President Donald Trump spoke publicly after the news that ABC had led Jimmy Kimmel live! air.
The network has announced its decision to suspend the show indefinitely after host Kimmel referenced the recent assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk in a monologue and questioned the president’s response to the news.
During Trump’s visit to the UK on Thursday, September 18, the 79-year-old Trump shared his thoughts on Kimmel’s holidays and characterized it as a fire.
“Jimmy Kimmel was fired for having a worse rating than anything else, and he said some horrible things about a great man named Charlie Kirk,” Trump said. “Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person, he has a very bad review and they should have fired him a long time ago.”
“Whether you can call that freedom of speech,” the president continued. “He was fired for a lack of talent.”
An episode of his show, a statement that he appears to have landed in warm water on Monday, September 15th.
“We struck out a few new lows over the weekend, desperately trying to characterise the child who killed Charlie Kirk as something other than one of them, and try to do everything we can to score political points from there,” Kimmel said in a monologue. “There was sadness between my points.”
Randy Holmes/Disney via Getty. Neil Hall/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty
“On Friday, the White House flew the flag to half the staff, and the clip was then cut to Kimmel’s broadcast, indicating that Trump was asking questions from reporters after the shooting.
When asked how he was holding on, Trump said, “I think it’s very good. By the way, to see all the trucks, they just started building a new ballroom for the White House.” Trump continued to discuss the ballroom plans, saying the outcome would be “beautiful.”
The camera then returned to Kimmel. Kimmel said, “Yes, he is in the fourth stage of grief: Construction.”
“This is not a way for adults to grieve the murder of someone he called a friend,” Kimmel added. “This is how a four-year-old child laments goldfish, right?”
The host said Trump’s seemingly casual comment “didn’t happen once.”
“When I heard that, I was doing great things for 150 years when I wanted a ballroom in the White House. They don’t have a ballroom.
Trump said when someone came in and said, “Charlie Kirk is dead,” he had planned a “incredible” design for the ballroom along with the architect. “The president said he expressed shock at the news.
“And we set up the most beautiful chandelier,” Kimmel fell sarcasm as the camera returned to him. “You wouldn’t believe it.”
“There’s something wrong with him, there’s really. Who would think of it that way?” Kimmel continued, previously expressing his sadness towards Kirk’s family and firmly condemning the violence. “Why are we building a $200 million ballroom in the White House? Could he be upset about it instead of the Epstein List because he might be doing it on purpose?
A Disney ABC spokesman confirmed that the late-night talk show was on an indefinite break after his comments on Wednesday, September 17th. The decision was made in response to a threat from Nexstar Media to pre-empt the broadcast of Jimmy Kimmel Live.
In a statement, Nexstar said it was “strongly opposed to Kimmel’s recent comments on the murder of Charlie Kirk, replacing the show with other programming in the ABC-related market.”
Nexstar is the largest local broadcast and digital media company in the United States, and owns over 200 television stations in 116 markets. It recently announced plans to acquire rival broadcaster Teguna for $6.2 billion, a large deal that requires final approval from the Trump-controlled Federal Communications Commission.
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On Wednesday night, the president, who was in the UK with his wife Melania Trump, praised ABC’s actions on the true society for his official national visit to the Royal Family at Windsor Castle.
“American great news: The rated Jimmy Kimmel Show has been cancelled,” Trump said in a statement on his social media platform.
“Congratulations to ABC for having the courage to do things that have to be done. Kimmel has zero talent and a worse rating than Colbert, if possible.
“It left two total losers, Jimmy and Seth, on fake news NBC. Their reviews are also scary. NBC!!! DJ President,” he added.
