“Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings, more than anyone else, and he said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk,” Trump told a reporter who brought up Kimmel’s suspension during a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Kimmel, 57, was suspended “indefinitely” by ABC Wednesday evening after a pair of local affiliate owners refused to air his show in response to the Brooklyn native suggesting the accused assassin of conservative activist Kirk was a Trump supporter.
“Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person. He had very bad ratings and they should have fired him a long time ago,” the president went on. “You can call that free speech or not. He was fired for lack of talent.”
Over the summer, Trump had quipped that “I hear Kimmel is next” after news broke that CBS News would be axing “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” next year.
On Wednesday, Federal Communications Commission boss Chairman Brendan Carr praised the move by ABC following statements by Nexstar and Sinclair, which own approximately 60 affiliates of the Disney-controlled network, that their stations would no longer show Kimmel’s program, which aired weeknights at 11:35 p.m.
As The Post previously reported, Nexstar is seeking to finalize a $6.2 billion takeover of rival broadcaster Tegna, raising suspicion that they complained about Kimmel to curry favor with the administration.
During Monday’s show, Kimmel gave a bizarre monologue on Kirk’s shooting, which happened during a Sept. 10 event at Utah Valley University.
“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,” the host said, without any apparent attempt at humor.
By that time, multiple authorities — including Utah Gov. Spencer Cox — had described accused assassin Tyler Robinson, 22, as motivated by lefist ideology to murder Kirk.
On Tuesday, Robinson was formally charged, and officials revealed text messages he purportedly sent his roomate-turned-lover showcasing his politically driven disdain for Kirk.
During Thursday’s press conference, Starmer called Kirk’s assassination “shocking” for those who “believe in free speech and democracy,” adding that the murder had sent “shockwaves through the world.
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