U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday praised ABC’s decision to remove Jimmy Kimmel Live from the air. Trump said the late-night host had made “a horrible remark” about slain political activist Charlie Kirk.
The Walt Disney-owned network announced on Wednesday that it was pulling the show after Kimmel suggested conservatives were using Kirk’s death to gain political advantage.
“Jimmy Kimmel was fired because of poor ratings more than anything else, and he also said a horrible thing about a great gentleman named Charlie Kirk,” Trump stated during a joint press conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of Trump, was killed on September 10 by a sniper on a Utah university campus. State prosecutors said this week they will seek the death penalty against the accused gunman.
Trump added that Kimmel “is not a talented person” and argued that his removal was long overdue. “He had very bad ratings, and they should have fired him a long time ago. Whether you call that free speech or not, he was fired for lack of talent,” the President said.
