What did Jimmy Kimmel say about Charlie Kirk - and why was his show suspended?

Jimmy Kimmel's talk show has been suspended after comments he made about Charlie Kirk's death during an opening monologue.

The veteran late-night host used his show on Monday night to accuse Donald Trump and his allies of capitalising on the conservative influencer's assassination last week, causing backlash from right-wing politicians and influencers. Disney-owned ABC said on Wednesday it would be taken off-air indefinitely - and with immediate effect - sparking strong responses from both Republicans and Democrats.

But what did Kimmel say, what reasons have been given for the suspension - and what has the reaction been? What did Kimmel say about Charlie Kirk's death? Delivering his opening monologue, the host said the "MAGA gang" was "desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it". He also accused them of "working very hard to capitalise on the murder".

He then played a clip of Mr Trump being asked about how he was "holding up" by a reporter two days after Kirk's shooting, in which the president said he was doing "very good" before pivoting to the subject of construction being done nearby for the White House's new ballroom. Kimmel then quipped: "He's at the fourth stage of grief: construction.

"This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he calls a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish," he added.

He highlighted supposed hypocrisy in how Republicans have responded to Kirk's death, suggesting Vice President JD Vance's unfounded claims that "most of the lunatics in American politics today are proud members of the far left" were "complete bull****". Mr Kimmel drew attention to Capitol rioters who, on 6 January 2021, "wanted to hang" Mr Trump's first term vice president, Mike Pence, for certifying Joe Biden's 2020 election win.

He said: "Was that the liberal left? Or the toothless army who stormed the Capitol on January 6?" The MAGA movement, led by the president, has been critical of the left as a whole since Mr Kirk's shooting - even before suspect Tyler Robinson was arrested and charged. In his Oval Office address on the night of the shooting, Mr Trump said the "radical left" had "compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world's worst mass murderers and criminals" for years, and that "this kind of rhetoric is directly responsible" for the shooting.

Show suspended after pressure mounted on Disney and ABC On Wednesday, an ABC spokesperson said Jimmy Kimmel Live would "be pre-empted indefinitely.