ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro pressed on whether Jimmy Kimmel sacking linked to NFL RedZone approval

ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro was asked by Axios’ Sara Fischer during a Thursday appearance on Media Trends Live if Disney subsidiary ABC pulled the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show off the air “indefinitely” to help win regulatory approval for the pending media deal between ESPN and the NFL. Pitaro avoided answering the question, per Rich Greenfield of LightShed Partners.

Last month, ESPN and the NFL announced a deal in which the Worldwide Leader in Sports would become owner and operator of NFL Network and the RedZone channel in exchange for a 10% equity stake in ESPN. The deal requires regulatory approval from the Trump administration before it can proceed.

ABC pulled Kimmel’s show off the air indefinitely on Wednesday over his controversial comments about the alleged killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Kimmel suggested in his opening monologue Monday night that Tyler Robinson — who has been charged with aggravated murder for shooting Kirk to death on Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University — was aligned with President Donald Trump‘s “Make America Great Again” movement.

“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said, via Anthony Robledo of USA TODAY. “In between the finger-pointing, there was, uh, grieving on Friday — the White House flew the flags at half-staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level, you can see how hard the president is taking this.

“Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief: construction. Demolition, construction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend; this is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish, OK? And it didn’t just happen once. And then we installed the most beautiful chandelier. Responses you wouldn’t believe. Who thinks like that, and why are we building a $200 million chandelier in the White House? Is it possible that he’s doing it intentionally so he can be mad about that instead of the [Jeffrey] Epstein list?”

FCC chair reacts to Jimmy Kimmel’s controversial comments

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair Brendan Carr said on “The Benny Show” Wednesday that Kimmel’s comments were “truly sick.” He added that this was a “very serious issue right now for Disney.”

“This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said, via Dan Mangan of CNBC. “These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.

“… They have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest.”