ManitobaA Winnipeg-born comedian living in Los Angeles says ABC’s decision to indefinitely pull Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show off the air is frightening.Consequences of walking the line ‘more dire,’ Aisha Alfa saysArturo Chang · CBC News · Posted: Sep 18, 2025 11:57 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours agoJimmy Kimmel arrives at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards held in Los Angeles in September 2022. ABC said Wednesday it will indefinitely stop airing his show after remarks the late-night host made in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. (Aude Guerrucci/Reuters)A Winnipeg-born comedian living in Los Angeles says ABC’s decision to indefinitely pull Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show off the air is frightening.Aisha Alfa said the recently announced suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! following remarks by the talk-show host in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination has her checking any past comments she’s made to see whether they could be construed as being against the current U.S. administration.”Comedians are notorious for, like, walking the line, stepping over it a little bit, coming back, having to apologize, all this kind of stuff,” she said. “But now the consequences of that are much more dire and feel scary.”Disney-owned ABC announced Wednesday Kimmel’s show would be pre-empted indefinitely, after a monologue in which the comedian accused politicians of using the killing of the conservative activist for political gain. Kimmel also made fun of comments made by U.S. President Donald Trump after the assassination.Following the remarks, the head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission urged ABC affiliates to stop airing the show, suggesting they could be fined or lose their licence.Winnipeg comedian Dean Jenkinson said the move is one more action from a government that seems to be increasingly willing to overreach.WATCH | Kimmel’s suspension concerning, comedian says:Network yanking Jimmy Kimmel’s show ‘disappointing’ to Winnipeg comedianWinnipeg comedian Dean Jenkinson weighs in on the suspension of Kimmel’s late night show, following the American host’s comments related to Charlie Kirk’s killing. It tells companies “if you want mergers approved, if you want other things, you need to play ball and you need to cave and kowtow,” Jenkinson said. “I think that’s extraordinarily dangerous, not just as an artist, but even more so as just a citizen and a fan of freedom and democracy.”Trump has repeatedly threatened and sued media companies over their coverage.In a July Truth Social post following the announcement Stephen Colbert’s late-night show was getting cancelled, the U.S. president said he heard Kimmel was “next.””Kimmel probably was prepared for this,” said University of Manitoba film professor Brenda Austin-Smith. “But it’s really disturbing when a … late night comedy show gets cancelled because the president doesn’t like the content and the FCC doesn’t like the content of the show.”Winnipeg-born comedian Aisha Alfa, seen in a 2017 file photo, says the consequences of telling jokes about the current U.S. administration are more dire than they were in the past. (Antosia Fiedur)Alfa said the U.S. government’s calls to take Kimmel off the air were hypocritical.”There’s a lot of hypocrisy going on where when it serves certain people, then free speech is OK. And when it doesn’t serve certain people, then it’s not free speech anymore,” she said.”That I think can make us feel a little bit helpless, where … the rules just keep changing depending on what the outcome people want is.”With files from Brittany Greenslade, Up to Speed and The Associated Press
Winnipeg-born comedian says Jimmy Kimmel being pulled off air ‘scary’
