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Podcaster Adam Carolla revealed the text he received from his longtime friend and former co-host Jimmy Kimmel after his talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! was suspended "indefinitely" on Wednesday (September 17).
Carolla said he reached out to Kimmel hours after news broke of his ousting, which was initially reported to be due to remarks made about the assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk.
“Wow, it’s strange times out here,” Kimmel wrote, according to Carolla, on Thursday’s (September 18) episode The Adam Carolla Show.
Carolla, who co-hosted The Man Show with Kimmel on Comedy Central from 1999 to 2003, said he was driving to a show when he learned of his friend's suspension.
“I just sent him a text because you want to be on record as understanding or knowing or whatever,” Carolla said. “It just said, you know, ‘Thinking about you. I hope you’re okay.'”
The podcaster said he didn't expect an answer from Kimmel, specifying, "You don't need to reply" in his text, but received a response 18 seconds later, "which is what Jimmy does."
Kimmel's comments about the suspect in Kirk's assassination reportedly threatened to derail Nexstar's $6.2 billion takeover of rival broadcaster Tegna, telecom insiders told the New York Post's On The Money Thursday. The deal, which had already faced backlash for combining two of the United States' largest local television stations, is pending approval by the Federal Communications Commission and its conservative chairman, Brendan Carr, over possible antitrust issues.
The telecom insiders claimed Kimmel's comments reportedly factored negatively into the pending approval, which led to Nexstar's decision to pull his show, On The Money reports. Kimmel was spotted outside El Capitan Entertainment Centre in Los Angeles shortly after being notified of his ousting as seen in video footage shared by NBC 4 Los Angeles.
The longtime ABC host appeared to be downcast while standing around the back alley of the studio where his talk show had taped for broadcast in photos obtained by the New York Post. Kimmel criticized Republicans' response to Kirk's killing during his monologue Monday (September 15) night.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said via the New York Post.
Nextstar Media Group, which serves as a primary affiliate to ABC, confirmed its plans to "preempt" Jimmy Kimmel Live! following the hosts' remarks. President Donald Trump, a longtime target of Kimmel's critical humor, celebrated the decision and called for similar action to be taken against NBC's Jimmy Fallon of The Tonight Show and Seth Meyers of Late Night.
"Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!! President DJT," Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.