&34;They should've fired him a long time ago.&34; Donald Trump says Jimmy Kimmel was suspended from late night over 'bad ratings' and 'lack of talent'

"They should've fired him a long time ago."

Donald Trump says Jimmy Kimmel was suspended from late night over 'bad ratings' and 'lack of talent'

"They should've fired him a long time ago."

By Jessica Wang

Jessica Wang

Jessica Wang is a staff writer at . Her work has appeared in Bustle, NYLON, Cosmopolitan, and more.

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on September 18, 2025 6:04 p.m. ET

Donald Trump is continuing to hit back against Jimmy Kimmel, claiming the late-night host was "fired" due to "bad ratings" in the wake of ABC's controversial decision to indefinitely yank him off the air.

ABC announced Wednesday it would "indefinitely" pull *Jimmy Kimmel Live* off air after Nexstar Media Group said its ABC affiliates would preempt the show due to comments Kimmel made regarding the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

"Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else," Trump asserted to reporters in the midst of his visit to the U.K. "And he said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk. Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person. He has very bad ratings and they should have fired him a long time ago."**

"You could call that free speech or not," the president added. "He was fired for lack of talent."

Patrick van Katwijk/Getty; Randy Holmes/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Kimmel's comments in question, made during Monday night's monologue, accused the Trump administration of capitalizing on Kirk's death. "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," the host said.**

Protesters gather outside of Jimmy Kimmel studio to oppose show's suspension

'The View' ignores news of fellow ABC personality Jimmy Kimmel's network suspension

Brendan Carr, the head of the Federal Communications Commission appointed by Trump, condemned Kimmel's comments and appeared to threaten the network. "Disney needs to see some change here, but the individual licensed stations that are taking their content, it's time for them to step up and say this, you know, garbage to the extent that that's what comes down the pipe in the future isn't something that we think serves the needs of our local communities," he said.**

Charlie Kirk in 2024.

Andrew Harnik/Getty

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That was followed by ABC's decision to indefinitely pull the show from air, with Trump gloating about it shortly after on Truth Social. He called it "great news for America" and claimed Kimmel had "worse ratings" than Stephen Colbert. The president also encouraged NBC to axe late-night shows hosted by Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers.

As for Trump's assertion that Kimmel has bad ratings, late-night ratings are down overall amidst a competitive media market, but Kimmel — who has yet to issue a statement about ABC's decision — actually leads late night in the key 18-49-year-old demo, according to recent stats from LateNighter, which tracks late-night ratings. Kimmel averages 220,000 viewers within the coveted demo, ahead of Colbert (219,000) and Fallon (157,000).

Kirk, 31, an influential right-wing activist and ally of Trump, was fatally gunned down on Sept. 10 during an outdoor event at Utah Valley University while mid-debate about gun violence. A suspect by the name of Tyler Robinson is in custody.

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