Josh Gad is speaking out after Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show was taken off the air indefinitely following comments he made about Charlie Kirk and President Donald Trump.
“Hey Disney, that guy on the right has done more for your company than most entertainers,” Gad, 44, wrote via Instagram on Friday, September 19, while sharing a photo of the actor and Kimmel, 57, shaking hands on the now-suspended late night talk show.
“You have a very clear choice right now and it’s not the one you’re making,” Gad, who famously played the beloved Frozen character Olaf, a Disney film, continued.
On Wednesday, September 17, ABC confirmed to Us Weekly that the network and its parent company, Disney, had pulled the late night show off its schedule “indefinitely.”
“Jimmy Kimmel Live will be pre-empted indefinitely,” an ABC spokesperson told Us. Variety had previously reported earlier that day that ABC decided to remove the late night talk show from its network after Nexstar Media reportedly threatened to erase the show from its lineup.
Nexstar told Variety on Wednesday that its “owned and partner television stations affiliated with the ABC Television Network will preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the foreseeable future, beginning with tonight’s show.”
The host has not publicly addressed his show’s suspension. Us Weekly has reached out to representatives for Kimmel for comment.
The move came after the FCC chair criticized the host after he made comments regarding the recent death of the far-right political activist and Turning Point USA founder.
“The MAGA Gang (is) 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,” Kimmel said on Monday, September 15, referring to the 22-year-old accused of shooting and killing Kirk while he spoke at a university campus in Utah.
Kimmel then joked at Trump’s response to a reporter’s question regarding how he was “holding up” in the wake of Kirk’s assassination, who he reportedly considered to be a “second son.” (Trump has three sons, Baron Trump, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.)
The host played a clip of the president saying he was doing “very good” before gleefully pointing out the nearly-completed construction of the White House’s new $200 million ballroom.
“He’s at the fourth stage of grief: construction,” Kimmel joked. “That is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he calls a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish.”
After Kimmel’s comments, Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, threatened ABC, Disney and Kimmel in response to the host’s monologue while appearing on a far-right podcast.
“There’s calls for Kimmel to be fired,” Carr said on Wednesday while appearing on Benny Johnson’s YouTube show. “I think you could certainly see a path forward for suspension over this.”
He then commented, “Frankly, when we see stuff like this, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
Trump praised the indefinite suspension of Kimmel’s show, before taking aim at late night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers. Later, on Thursday, September 18, Trump floated the idea of pulling the broadcasting licenses of any network that airs what he considers to be “against” him and his administration.
“I have read someplace that the networks were 97% against me, again, 97% negative, and yet I won and easily, all seven swing states,” the president erroneously claimed, while referring to the 2024 election.
“They give me only bad publicity, press. I mean, they’re getting a license. I would think maybe their license should be taken away,” he continued, before claiming that ultimately the decision “will be up to Brendan Carr.”
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