Jimmy Kimmel's crew discovered show had been yanked 'minutes' before filming

The Jimmy Kimmel Live! crew were reportedly "shocked" by the show's suspension and only learned it had been pulled from the air when the story broke in the news.

The late-night chat show was pulled from the air on Wednesday (17 September) night after the host received backlash over his previous monologue about the death of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. A source claimed that the situation happened so quickly, and Jimmy and his crew weren't told; instead, they found out the show was being suspended when the news broke widely.

"Things transpired very fast. Word filtered down to the individual stations around 3 pm that Jimmy would get pulle,d and it sent station heads panicking," the source said. "Jimmy and the crew were getting ready to film when, at 3:45pm, news broke widely and that's how the crew found out. They were shocked." According to their website, Jimmy Kimmel Live! usually starts taping at 4:30pm.

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The source added to The Sun that Disney and ABC staff at all levels had been walking on eggshells recently. They also said news stations had to decide for themselves if they would talk about what was happening to Kimmel's show, as ABC were refusing t give a statement. "ABC wouldn't give a statement to affiliates so they could properly cover the story themselves.

"That left some stations in a situation where they had to make the call to skip coverage of the Kimmel story altogether in their newscasts." The source clarified that, despite what some reports had said, the show has not been cancelled and that the crew were still being compensated.

The show has been suspended indefinitely after Kimmel made comments about the shooting of Charlie Kirk, according to ABC. In his monologue on Monday (15 September), the host said: "The MAGA gang is desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them." He also accused Republican supporters of trying to "score political points" from Kirk's death.

Brendan Carr, chair of the Federal Communications Commission, a broadcast regulator, threatened to act against ABC and its parent company, Disney, and said Kimmel was "appearing to directly mislead the American public."

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Carr said on the conservative podcast The Benny Show. "These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead."

Kirk, who was a right-wing political activist, was shot and killed while speaking at a university in Utah on 10 September. Prosecutors are reportedly seeking the death penalty for his killer, Tyler Robinson. On the day Kirk died, Kimmel condemned the attack and sent "love" to his family.

Speaking this week, President Donald J Trump said Kimmel was fired because "he had bad ratings" and is "not a talented person". Several Hollywood figures have spoken out about Kimmel's suspension, including Ben Stiller and Hacks' Jean Smart. Stiller said the suspension wasn't right, whilst Smart wrote on her Instagram: "What Jimmy said was free speech, not hate speech." Kimmel himself hasn't commented.

The suspension of Kimmel's show is the latest in a series of feuds between Trump's administration and the media. Trump has reached settlements with CBS and ABC over separate stories and his case with CBS is rumoured to be the reason the Late Show with Stephen Colbert was cancelled after 11 seasons. Trump has also launched legal action against the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

The Mirror has contacted ABC for comment.

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