White House Denies Jimmy Kimmel Suspension Due to Trump Admin Pressure

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said late-night host Jimmy Kimmel was not suspended because of Trump administration pressure but because of an ABC decision.

“The decision to fire Jimmy Kimmel and to cancel his show came from executives at ABC,” Leavitt said on Fox News’s “Saturday in America” on Sept. 20.

Kimmel was not officially fired by ABC, but the broadcasting network told media outlets last week that his show would be suspended indefinitely. The decision came after he made comments that appeared to link suspected Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson to “the MAGA gang” during a monologue last week.

“It was a decision that was made by ABC because Jimmy Kimmel chose to knowingly lie to his audience on his program about the death of a highly respected man when our country is in a state of mourning,” Leavitt said on Sept. 20. “That was a decision that he made, and he is now facing a consequence for that decision and for that lie.”

Kimmel’s suspension came after Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr said in several interviews last week that ABC should take action against the late-night host in response to his comments. In a CNBC interview on Sept. 18, Carr said he believes that Kimmel was trying to mislead the public with his statements about the suspect in the Kirk assassination, as prosecutors said Robinson had left-wing viewpoints.

“This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney,” Carr told podcaster Benny Johnson on Sept. 17. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

Carr has noted that ABC, CBS, and NBC are different from other news channels because they broadcast over public airwaves and are subject to more FCC requirements. He has said channels such as CNN or Fox News do not have the same requirements.

Another show run by ABC, “The View,” could be in the FCC’s crosshairs soon, Carr also suggested last week.

“I would assume you could make the argument that ‘The View’ is a bona fide news show, but I’m not so sure about that,” Carr said on “The Scott Jennings Show” on Sept. 18.

Responding to Kimmel’s suspension, fellow late-night hosts Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart said it is evidence that the Trump administration is attempting to censor them.

President Donald Trump told reporters in the UK that Kimmel was suffering from “very bad ratings” and was “fired for a lack of talent” in combination with his comments about the suspected assassin.

While praising ABC’s decision to suspend Kimmel on Sept. 17, Trump also called for the ousting of Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, who both host programs on NBC.

“Their ratings are also horrible,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Do it NBC.”

A supporter of Trump, Kirk was killed on Sept. 10 as he was speaking at a college campus in Utah. He was credited with influencing younger people toward conservatism and helping Trump win the presidency in 2024.

The Epoch Times contacted ABC for comment on Sept. 22.