Donald Trump reacted to ABC’s decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show in the wake of comments the host made about the suspect in Charlie Kirk‘s assassination.
The White House also said of ABC, “They’re doing their viewers a favor. Jimmy is a sick freak!”
The comment came in a social media post on the White House’s rapid response account.
They’re doing their viewers a favor.
Jimmy is a sick freak! pic.twitter.com/9QaetwiKfz
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 17, 2025
The decision by ABC to pull the show follows the furor over one of Kimmel’s comments on Monday night’s show. He said, “We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it.”
On Tuesday, authorities confirmed evidence that the suspect, Tyler Robinson, had started to lean more to the left, after several days of social media speculation over his motives.
Earlier on Wednesday, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr threatened ABC with some sort of action, telling podcaster Benny Johnson of Kimmel’s remark, “Frankly, when you see stuff like this, I mean, we can do this the easy way, or these companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
On Tuesday, Trump lashed out at Jonathan Karl, ABC News’s chief Washington correspondent, after he asked the president about Attorney General Pam Bondi’s threat to go after “hate speech” in the wake of the assassination.
Trump told Karl, “Maybe they will come after ABC. ABC paid me $16 million recently for a form of hate speech. Your company paid me $16 million for a form of hate speech, so maybe they will have to go after you.”
