The outspoken late-night host was suspended from the air in September 2025 after making remarks about the death of political activist Charlie Kirk.Show Caption
Nearly a year after the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel sent shockwaves through late-night TV, a former Disney executive is opening up about the scandal.Bob Iger, who served as CEO of the Walt Disney Company during Kimmel's temporary ouster last September, reflected on the controversial move in an interview with the Financial Times published June 20.Disney-owned ABC announced it would indefinitely stop airing Kimmel's long-running talk show, "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," after the outspoken late-night host made remarks about the death of political activist Charlie Kirk. The Turning Point USA founder was assassinated on Sept. 10, 2025, during a speaking engagement at Utah Valley University.During his Sept. 15 episode, Kimmel criticized supporters of President Donald Trump and their discussion of Kirk's death, saying, "We hit 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 doing everything they can to score political points from it."Days later, Brendan Carr, the chairman of the FCC, seemingly threatened ABC, Disney and Kimmel over his monologue about Kirk during an appearance on commentator Benny Johnson's show."This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Carr said at the time. "There's calls for Kimmel to be fired. I think you could certainly see a path forward for suspension over this."Kimmel's show was suspended for nearly a week, igniting a firestorm on censorship and freedom of speech rights under the Trump administration. In a statement announcing the talk show host's return, Disney said the suspension was undertaken to "avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country," adding that Kimmel's comments were "ill-timed and thus insensitive."In his interview with the Financial Times, Iger pushed back against the notion that Kimmel's suspension was politically motivated."That was not the case," Iger said, citing Kimmel's remarks on Kirk. "We thought it was in bad taste."He added: "We just wanted him to acknowledge that it was an ill-timed and probably inappropriate comment."Kimmel addressed his comments during the monologue of his comeback show on Sept. 23. The comedian said it was "never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man" nor was he attempting to "blame any specific group for the actions of what was obviously a deeply disturbed individual."Kimmel, who's currently on a two-month summer break from his talk show, continues to push buttons with his bold TV commentary.In April, Kimmel drew the ire of President Trump and his wife, first lady Melania Trump, on social media after the late-night host made a joke about the White House Correspondents' Dinner, days before a shooting took place at the event.Kimmel delivered an alternative White House Correspondents' Dinner monologue in anticipation of the actual event, which did not have a comedian as the headliner. During his remarks, Kimmel quipped, "Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow." Both President Trump and Melania Trump called for ABC to fire Kimmel for his "hateful and violent rhetoric."Kimmel and ABC recently signed a one-year extension for his talk show, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to USA TODAY in December, meaning "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" will stay on the network through May 2027.Contributing: Anthony Robledo, Bryan Alexander and Saman Shafiq, USA TODAY
