U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that ABC canceled the late-night talk show "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" because of low ratings.
On the 18th (local time), Trump, on a state visit to the United Kingdom, said at a news conference at Chequers, the prime minister's country residence in Buckinghamshire, alongside U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, that Kimmel, the host of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," was "fired because of bad ratings above all."
Earlier, on the broadcast on the 15th, Kimmel said, "The MAGA forces are desperately trying to define this guy who killed Charlie Kirk as something other than one of their own and are doing everything they can to gain political advantage from it." ABC took issue with this and suspended the program indefinitely.
Trump said, "Kimmel is not a talented person. The ratings were very low, and they (ABC) should have fired him a long time ago," adding, "On top of that, he made a terrible remark about a great gentleman named Kirk." He continued, "Whether you call that freedom of expression or not, he was fired for lack of talent."
The previous day, he also wrote on his social media (SNS) Truth Social, "The Jimmy Kimmel show, which was suffering from poor ratings, has been canceled. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done."
In his opening statement at the news conference that day, Trump said, "Last week a great American, Charlie Kirk, was brutally assassinated for expressing his opinion." In a Fox News interview, he said of Kirk, "He was a very charismatic person. I haven't seen anyone who captivated young people like him," adding, "I actually told him, 'Charlie, I think there's a good chance you'll be president someday.'"
As polarization deepens in American society following Kirk's killing, Trump pointed to former President Barack Obama as the cause of polarization. When asked whether he thinks national unity is the role of the president, he said, "When you look at the hatred across society, it's unbelievable. It was probably always there, but we didn't realize it."
He went on, "I saw it start during President Obama's time (January 2009–January 2017). It was tremendous hatred, at a level we hadn't seen before," adding, "Under Biden it got much worse." He continued, "During my term (the first Trump administration) we achieved tremendous economic success," adding, "What I want to say is that success brings people together."