Inside Disney’s abrupt decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s show

Kimmel, during his Monday show, had criticized how President Trump and some other Republicans were responding to the fatal shooting. Carr suggested during a podcast appearance two days later that the FCC could take action against the broadcast licenses of ABC-owned stations.

Advertisers and affiliates soon called the network expressing concern about Kimmel’s show. Executives at Sinclair and Nexstar, owners of more than 60 local ABC stations, told network leaders after Carr’s remarks that they would “indefinitely preempt" the show starting that night, moves that would hobble the program’s reach.

Kimmel had planned to address Carr’s comments on his show Wednesday night, according to people familiar with the matter. Before his on-air appearance, Dana Walden, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment, spoke to the host about his plan, the people said.

After the conversation between Kimmel and Walden, she and other senior executives thought that the star’s approach could make the situation worse, people familiar with their conversations said. Executives also discussed staff safety, including threatening emails staff on Kimmel’s show had received after Carr’s remarks and the posting of some of their personal information online, the people said.

Walden huddled with her team and Disney CEO Bob Iger before the two executives decided to temporarily take “Jimmy Kimmel Live!" off the air, the people said. She then informed Kimmel of the decision.

A person close to the show said that Kimmel was planning to say that his words were being purposefully twisted by some members of the Make America Great Again movement.

Media owners are facing complex political and commercial dynamics during the Trump administration. Trump has particular leverage over companies that are reliant on federal airwaves regulated by the FCC or in need of the agency’s approval for deals.

“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," Kimmel told his audience Monday.

“In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving," he said. Kimmel was also critical of President Trump’s grieving process for Kirk, which he said was akin to “how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish."

Some conservatives railed against the comments. Carr told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson that Kimmel appeared to “directly mislead the American public" and suggested the FCC could take action against broadcast licenses of ABC-owned stations.

After ABC pulled Kimmel’s show, Carr said in a post on X on Wednesday night that “local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest" and praised Nexstar for “doing the right thing." He also praised Sinclair in a separate post.

President Trump said Thursday while speaking to reporters on Air Force One that broadcast networks that are “against" him might have their licenses taken away. “They give me only bad press, but they’re getting a license," he said.

Nexstar, a suburban Dallas-based broadcaster that owns and operates more than 200 local television stations, needs the FCC’s signoff on its $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna.

It also needs the agency to ease rules that currently limit the percentage a broadcaster can reach to 39% of the nation’s television households.

“The decision to preempt ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ was made unilaterally by the senior executive team at Nexstar, and they had no communication with the FCC or any government agency prior to making that decision," a Nexstar spokesman said.

ABC, which was in the middle of planning a live show featuring Kimmel expected to be filmed in Brooklyn, N.Y., later this month, scrambled to satisfy advertisers who had paid for commercials to run on episodes that were canceled. Advertising buyers said they likely would shift ad dollars committed to Kimmel’s show to other programs, with some considering asking for some money back.

“We live in very unnerving and surreal times which is all I’ll say now on the matter," John Wolk, a member of the standards and practices team who works on Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show, said in a Facebook post to friends early Thursday.

Some in Hollywood’s creative community have criticized Disney’s decision to pull Kimmel. Unions for actors and producers issued statements critical of the decision.

Damon Lindelof, a co-creator of the classic ABC drama “Lost," on the social-media platform BlueSky defended Kimmel and said he wouldn’t want to work for the company that has taken the host off the air.

“We all see where this is going, correct? It’s managed media. And it’s no good," David Letterman, the former late-night host, said at an Atlantic magazine event Thursday.

One Democratic senator accused the Trump administration of censorship and former President Barack Obama said it had embraced its own version of cancel culture.

Some media critics said Kimmel’s benching, coupled with CBS’s recent decision to cancel its late-night show hosted by frequent Trump critic Stephen Colbert when its season ends in May 2026, will lead shows to self-censor and create a chilling effect.

Trump, who applauded the move on Truth Social, appeared Wednesday to encourage NBC to cancel “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" and “Late Night with Seth Meyers." A NBCUniversal spokeswoman declined to comment.

“I think the degree of capitulation going forward will to some extent be a function of what kind of financial cudgel the administration has to wield," said Lee Levine, a retired media lawyer. “Whenever the cudgel has been pretty significant, sooner or later the network caved in the recent past."

ABC agreed late last year to pay $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump against the network and George Stephanopoulos.

Paramount earlier this year agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit with Trump over the editing of a “60 Minutes" interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. At the time, the FCC was reviewing its proposed merger with Skydance Media. Shortly after the settlement, the FCC approved the merger. Carr, who secured concessions from Skydance including the addition of an ombudsman at CBS News, has said the settlement was unrelated to the approval.

Write to Joe Flint at Joe.Flint@wsj.com, Suzanne Vranica at Suzanne.Vranica@wsj.com and Isabella Simonetti at isabella.simonetti@wsj.com