Trump Goes Scorched Earth On Jimmy Kimmel Over Kirk Comments

President Donald Trump wasted no time unloading on late-night host Jimmy Kimmel after ABC announced the comedian’s long-running show was suspended and then cancelled following his controversial remarks about Charlie Kirk. Kirk, the 31-year-old founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed on September 10 during a campus event at Utah Valley University. The tragedy shook the conservative movement, but within days, Kimmel decided to use his late-night platform to target conservatives.

On September 15, in his opening monologue, he sneered that “the MAGA Gang [is] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.”

That line ignited a firestorm. Investigators revealed the suspect, Tyler James Robinson, had exhibited left-leaning views in recent years—contradicting Kimmel’s implication that Kirk’s killer was somehow connected to the Trump movement. The fallout was immediate. Nexstar Media Group, which operates dozens of ABC affiliates, refused to air the show. Sinclair Broadcast Group followed suit.

Then the Federal Communications Commission weighed in, with Chairman Brendan Carr calling Kimmel’s comments “truly sick” and warning Disney and ABC about regulatory consequences. Facing growing pressure, ABC suspended Kimmel’s show indefinitely. By this week, the hammer dropped: Kimmel was fired outright. That’s when President Trump stepped in. Speaking to reporters, Trump torched the late-night host in classic fashion.

“Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else,” Trump said. “And he said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk.”

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Trump didn’t stop there. He branded Kimmel as untalented and past his prime. “Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person. He had very bad ratings, and they should have fired him a long time ago. He was fired for lack of talent.”

For years, Kimmel has built his brand by ridiculing conservatives, Trump in particular. But many say this time he crossed a red line—turning the assassination of a young conservative leader into fodder for partisan attacks. Trump’s broadside added political weight to the debate. Unlike some of Kimmel’s Hollywood defenders, the president voiced what many had been saying all week: the firing was long overdue, not only because of his inflammatory rhetoric but because his ratings had been slipping for years.

Even before the Kirk controversy, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was struggling in the late-night ratings race. While his competitors sought to expand their digital footprint, Kimmel leaned more heavily on political monologues—alienating swaths of viewers in the process. ABC executives, already under fire for declining ad revenue, now had the perfect excuse to part ways.

Even Vice President JD Vance jumped into the conversation, joking on X that Secretary of State Marco Rubio should replace Kimmel as host. The comment went viral, reframing the debate and highlighting frustration with late-night television’s left-leaning monopoly. For now, the fallout continues.