What Really Got Kimmel Suspended? ‘I Hear That That Monologue Was Very Hot’

After Jimmy Kimmel’s show was suspended on Wednesday over his false claim about Charlie Kirk’s assassin, early reports suggested the move was tied directly to the comments. Later details, however, revealed that a major factor was Kimmel’s planned follow-up statement for the next broadcast.

Kimmel had stated in his monologue, “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.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter (THR) — which had reported on Wednesday that Kimmel had no intention of apologizing — an inside source said that Disney wanted Kimmel to “take down the temperature,” but Kimmel planned to “fan the flames with the MAGA fan base.” A source with Kimmel’s show contended that the late-night host wasn’t planning on “making it worse,” but that he simply “wasn’t kowtowing” to the furor surrounding his initial comments.

“Inside of ABC, ‘multiple conversations’ with Kimmel were had at the ‘executive level,’” an inside source told THR, which reported, “The execs wanted to know: How was Kimmel going to address the situation on Wednesday night’s show? The answer was not satisfactory to management, sources say.” THR added, “Talks between Kimmel and Disney/ABC hit enough of a stalemate that executives there decided Wednesday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! had run out of time to be salvaged.”

CNN Entertainment Correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister on Thursday offered some further inside information, stating:

Jimmy wanted to go on his show last night. And in his monologue, I hear that he wanted to address the backlash from the right regarding his commentary about Charlie Kirk’s charged killer. And I hear that that monologue was very hot. It very much took aim at MAGA, and that is when the executive said, we can’t have him go on the air tonight. Now, I want to read you one quote from a source, Phil. They said, “If Jimmy went on the air, there would’ve been no way back from that monologue for Jimmy. We didn’t want that. Everyone deeply values him and wants him to come back, but he has to take down the temperature.”