Comedian Wanda Sykes took to Instagram Wednesday night to condemn ABC for suddenly pulling Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air.
Kimmel’s show was pulled in response to comments he made Tuesday about the assassination of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk.
“Hey everybody, so I’m in a full face of makeup because I was supposed to go over and have a chat with my friend Jimmy Kimmel on his show,” Sykes told her followers.
“But as you have heard by now, the Jimmy Kimmel show has been pulled indefinitely, abruptly, because of complaints from the Trump administration,” Sykes said.
The comedian noted, “So let’s see, [Trump] didn’t end the Ukraine war or solve Gaza within his first week, but he did end freedom of speech within his first year.”
She ended the video by saying sadly, “For those of you who pray, now’s the time to do it. Love you, Jimmy.”
Kimmel’s show being pulled came mere hours after the President Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Brendan Carr threatened to take away ABC’s broadcasting license if they couldn’t “take action” on Kimmel.
The ABC-affiliated station Nexstar soon released a statement declaring that they would refuse to air Kimmel’s show for the “foreseeable future.”
They added, “Nexstar strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets.”
Kimmel’s controversial comment came early in his Tuesday monologue, where he said, “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.”
In his shows since Kirk’s death last Wednesday, Kimmel has repeatedly condemned celebrations of the tragedy, and was quick to send condolences to Kirk’s family on Instagram after the shooting.
According to a source from The Hollywood Reporter, Kimmel had planned to address the backlash to his comment on Wednesday night’s now-canceled show.
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