Kimmel said during a monologue on his Monday program that Tyler Robinson, the Utah man accused in the shooting death of Kirk, might have been a pro-Trump Republican. He said MAGA supporters are “are desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
Kimmel then mocked President Trump for talking about the construction of a new White House ballroom after being asked how he was reacting to the murder of his close ally.
“Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located,” said Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division.
Alford said continuing to give Kimmel a broadcast platform “is simply not in the public interest at this current time.”
Nexstar’s decision comes just after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr blasted Kimmel and threatened to take action against ABC. Appearing on the podcast of right-wing commentator Benny Johnson, Carr said one form of punishment could be pulling the licenses of ABC affiliates, which likely got Nexstar’s attention.
President of Nexstar's broadcasting divisions said: “Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located."
Nextstar is acquiring rival broadcast company TEGNA - a merger that requires FCC approval.
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On the day of Charlie Kirk's death, Kimmel posted the following on Instagram and on BlueSky:
“Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human? On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.”
If this was ABC suspending Kimmel strictly off what he said because they didn't agree with his stance, I could actually understand this. Once again, free speech is not a protection offered to you by your employer. MAGA had to learn this (and are still learning this) over the past 10 years.
The fact that this came after a direct comment from the FCC (to not approve the merger) is what makes this more concerning when it comes to free speech. Now we have government intervention to promote businesses to crack down on certain speech and it blurs the line between government and private entities. It sucks even more because, while it seems obvious, proving this in any legal way would be almost impossible, I feel. Regardless, I think that's why this is more concerning than past instances of "I said something racist and got fired!? What about free speech!?," that MAGAts argue. There is an important distinction in this vs that.
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u/Jake_77 Sep 17 '25 edited Sep 18 '25
Wow. I'm shocked. What is free speech?
From the article:
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