ESPN host backs Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension over Charlie Kirk comments: ‘Where was the joke?’

ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show this week after comments he made about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith reacted to the news on Thursday’s episode of his SiriusXM Radio Show, “Straight Shooter with Stephen A. Smith.

“Where was the joke? Because you’re a late-night host — and obviously that has a comedic attachment to it. Where was the joke? Obviously, it wasn’t anything funny about that,” Smith said.

Kimmel made several remarks about the reaction to Kimmel’s assassination last week on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Monday and Tuesday nights, including that “many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk.”

ABC, which has aired Kimmel’s late-night show since 2003, made the move quickly after Nexstar Communications Group said it would pull the show starting Wednesday. Kimmel’s comments about Kirk’s death “are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse,” said Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division. Nexstar operates 23 ABC affiliates.

“‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ will be pre-empted indefinitely,” a spokesperson for the network said in a statement.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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