'Like a four-year-old mourning a goldfish': How Jimmy Kimmel mocked Trump on his now off-air show | Watch

Jimmy Kimmel

ABC, owned by Walt Disney, announced that it is pulling Jimmy Kimmel Live off the air after the late-night host faced backlash for comments about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly pressured broadcasters over content he finds objectionable and urged the Federal Communications Commission to revoke station licenses, celebrated the decision on social media.

A spokesperson for ABC confirmed to the BBC: “Jimmy Kimmel Live will be pre-empted indefinitely.”

How did Kimmel criticize Trump? 

The controversy originated from Kimmel’s Monday night monologue, in which he addressed the political response to Charlie Kirk’s killing in Utah. Kimmel noted that all living former presidents delivered messages of unity after the incident, except President Trump.

“With all these terrible things happening, you would think that our president would at least make an attempt to bring us together,” Kimmel said. “But he didn’t.”

"You would think our President would at least make an attempt to bring us together.

President Obama did.
President Biden did.
Presidents Bush and Clinton did.

President Trump did not." @jimmykimmel pic.twitter.com/JRMuIvMyZG

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— hunter (@huntergray) September 14, 2025

Kimmel also highlighted the responses of former presidents to Kirk’s death: “President Obama did. President Biden did. Presidents Bush and Clinton did. President Trump did not.”

“Instead, he blamed Democrats for their rhetoric,” Kimmel added.

While condemning the “demonizing” of political opponents in the U.S., Trump claimed the rhetoric of the “radical left” was “directly responsible” for Kirk’s assassination.

“We just have to beat the hell out of them,” said the president late Wednesday after the death of Kirk.

Kimmel reminded viewers of previous controversial statements by Trump: “The man who told a crowd of supporters that maybe the second amendment people should do something about Hillary Clinton. The man who said he wouldn’t mind if someone shot through the fake news media. The man who unleashed a mob on the Capitol, and said Liz Cheney should face nine barrels shooting at her for supporting his opponent, blames the radical left for their ‘rhetoric.’”

Kimmel also went on to mock President Trump’s reaction to the killing, contrasting the White House’s decision to lower flags with Trump’s remarks about construction at the presidential residence. “This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish,” he said.

On Sept. 11, Trump announced he would posthumously award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Kirk, whom he referred to as a "martyr for truth and freedom." In video-taped remarks released on Sept. 10, Trump stated the "radical left" were "directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in our country today."

Kimmel did not address Kirk’s death on the Sept. 10 episode of his show, which opened with a monologue about Trump, but he offered condolences to Kirk’s family on Instagram earlier in the day:

“Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human? On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.”