ABC has pre-empted Jimmy Kimmel Live! indefinitely after Kimmel’s on-air comments about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The decision followed public pressure from affiliates, most prominently Nexstar, which said it would stop carrying the show, and a warning from FCC Chair Brendan Carr that broadcasters faced potential scrutiny. Disney and ABC confirmed the indefinite halt on Wednesday.
Why Kimmel’s show was pulled
Kimmel criticised political reactions to Kirk’s killing; affiliates called the remarks “offensive” and “insensitive.” After Carr publicly urged stations to reconsider airing the programme, Nexstar said it would pre-empt the show “for the foreseeable future,” and ABC then moved to pull it off air nationwide. President Trump celebrated the move on social media. Civil-liberties groups and Hollywood figures, meanwhile, accused the administration of coercive pressure on speech.
Trump’s Antifa declaration and the legal reality
From London, Trump announced he is designating “ANTIFA … a major terrorist organization,” and called for investigations into its funding. Multiple outlets reported the statement, but the legal effect is unclear: there is no established U.S. mechanism to designate domestic groups as terrorist organisations in the way the State Department designates foreign terrorist bodies. Past Justice Department and FBI testimony has described “antifa” chiefly as a loosely organised ideology, complicating any formal designation, according to Reuters.
Trump has long signalled interest in new terrorism tools. Early in his term he signed an order focused on cartels and foreign designations; and House Republicans have floated resolutions to brand antifa as “domestic terrorists.” Neither created a standing federal domestic list akin to the foreign-terror list.
Where the Charlie Kirk case stands
Police in Utah have charged Tyler Robinson, 22, over Kirk’s killing; he appeared in court this week. The case has fuelled a furious national argument, campus expulsions for students who mocked the killing, protests and counter-protests, and intense disputes over blame and rhetoric.
Movement response and media crossfire
Vice-President JD Vance briefly hosted The Charlie Kirk Show from the White House, tying the murder to “left-wing extremism” and urging harsher crackdowns; the cameo drew sharp praise on the right and alarms from civil-liberties groups, according to ABC News. Erika Kirk, the widow, vowed to expand Turning Point’s campus tour, keep AmericaFest on schedule and “make his mission stronger, bolder, louder,” positioning herself to front the movement’s next phase. On HBO’s Real Time, Bill Maher pushed back as Ben Shapiro asserted the suspect was a leftist, a clash that spilled across conservative and liberal media through the week. Progressive streamers also weighed in: Hasan Piker called the killing “terrifying” and warned about revenge rhetoric, while The Majority Report dedicated a segment to debunking early claims about the shooter’s politics.
The stakes for media and politics
Pulling a marquee late-night show amid regulator pressure is extraordinary in modern U.S. media. Supporters say broadcasters must reflect “community standards”; critics warn that regulatory threats chill protected speech. At the same time, a presidential move to label a domestic current as “terrorist” tests the edges of U.S. law and the First Amendment, and is likely to meet court challenges if paired with enforcement actions. Together, these steps signal a hardening political environment in which speech, satire and protest are increasingly litigated as security questions.