ABC execs are ready to pull Jimmy Kimmel’s show again over the late-night host’s controversial comments about Melania Trump.
And insiders tell The U.S. Sun that this time it could be for good.
ABC affiliates around the country have already been ordered to drop promotional clips for the show after the first lady hit back at Kimmel for branding her an “expectant widow” on April 23.
The scandal also comes at a crucial time for the network’s advertising revenue, meaning Disney could take the “easy way out” by pulling him, our sources say.
An ABC insider exclusively told The U.S. Sun: “Stations which carry ABC around the country were told to pull Kimmel’s slated promos from their lineups this week.
“The move to pull Kimmel completely seems imminent.”
Making ABC’s delicate situation even more precarious, the insider explained that sweeps begin this Thursday.
Sweeps are when TV viewing data is collected each quarter to set ad local and national advertising rates.
A second source, who is a veteran industry insider, said sweeps usher in an “all-out race for ratings” – making the timing for pulling Kimmel disastrous.
The insider predicts ABC parent company Disney will eventually “cave to the administration’s demands” to avoid an exodus of advertisers during this critical window.
“Pulling Kimmel is the easy way out for Disney.”
The U.S. Sun reached out to ABC for comment.
The latest scandal began last Friday when Kimmel made a crass joke about the First Lady.
“Of course, our first lady, Melania, is here. Look at her, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,” he said.
The first lady slammed Kimmel’s comments in a rare public intervention in the aftermath of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting on Saturday night.
Melania responded on Monday with a forceful statement on X, branding Kimmel’s rhetoric “corrosive” and “hateful”.
She accused him of being a “coward” who hides behind ABC leadership and called on the network to “take a stand” against his behavior.
The President later joined the fray on Truth Social, declaring that “Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired” by Disney and ABC.
Senior advisor Marc Beckman echoed these sentiments, suggesting Kimmel’s presence on air is no longer acceptable given the sensitivity of the assassination attempt.
The late-night host immediately felt the aftershocks of those comments on Monday when one of his guests was pulled at the last minute.
Mentalist Oz Pearlman, who was performing at the WHCD when the shooting began, was removed from Kimmel’s guest lineup Monday.
He was replaced by Pod Save America cohost Jon Lovett, according to Entertainment Weekly.
And now, the FCC, or Federal Communications Commission, has ordered a review of all station licenses owned by ABC.
If Kimmel is pulled entirely, it would be the second time in seven months that the host’s job was in jeopardy after his comments on Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
Kimmel said the “MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them” and of trying to “score political points from it.”
It would be the second major debacle for ABC under CEO Josh D’Amaro, who took the helm last month just as the company made the decision to pull Taylor Frankie Paul’s The Bachelorette.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/tv/16285029/jimmy-kimmel-live-pulled-off-abc-melania-trump/
