Former Women’s Tennis Star Martina Navratilova Responds to Disney’s Removal of Jimmy Kimmel Amid Controversy
Former women’s tennis star Martina Navratilova took to social media on Wednesday to address news that Disney had pulled talk show host Jimmy Kimmel off the air following his controversial comments about the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Known for her outspoken liberal views and activism as a former athlete, Navratilova expressed her objection to Disney’s decision in a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter).
Navratilova also reshared several posts referencing the situation involving Kimmel, underscoring her disagreement with the broadcaster’s move to remove the show.
The controversy began on Monday when Jimmy Kimmel accused conservatives of “reaching new lows” by attempting to pin a left-wing ideology on 22-year-old suspect Tyler Robinson. This statement came despite prosecutors reaffirming ties between Robinson and leftist ideology in Tuesday’s indictment.
“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.
Kimmel’s comments came just one day after FBI officials and Utah Governor Spencer Cox publicly stated that Robinson held leftist beliefs and had become increasingly radicalized in recent years. Additionally, it was revealed that Robinson had a romantic relationship with a transgender partner who was biologically male and transitioning to female.
The situation escalated when Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr responded to Disney’s handling of the controversy. Appearing on Wednesday’s episode of The Benny Show, Carr called Kimmel’s remarks “some of the sickest conduct” and suggested the FCC could pursue potential avenues of action if Disney did not address the issue.
“In some quarters, there’s a very concerted effort to try to lie to the American people about the nature of worthy public interest acts that we’ve seen in a long time, in what appears to be an action by Jimmy Kimmel to play into that narrative that this was somehow a MAGA or a Republican-motivated person,” Carr told host Benny Johnson.
Following the growing backlash, Nexstar Media Group — which owns hundreds of television stations across the country — announced it would preempt Kimmel’s show on its ABC affiliates starting Wednesday night for the foreseeable future. The company stated the replacement programming would air in place of Jimmy Kimmel Live over his controversial comments about Tyler Robinson.
Later on Wednesday night, Disney confirmed the decision to remove Kimmel’s show from its lineup. A spokesperson for Disney told Fox News Digital, “Jimmy Kimmel Live will be pre-empted indefinitely.”
Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
https://nypost.com/2025/09/18/sports/martina-navratilova-reacts-to-abc-pulling-jimmy-kimmel-off-air-after-controversial-charlie-kirk-comments/