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ABC will take its late-night show Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air following conservative backlash to comments Kimmel made on air about conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.

A network spokesperson did not comment beyond saying that the show will be pre-empted “indefinitely”.

The biggest owner of ABC-affiliated stations, Nexstar, said earlier today that Kimmel’s programme would be replaced starting today, linking the move to statements the late-night show host made about last week’s killing of Kirk.

“Mr Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located,” Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, wrote in a statement.

“Continuing to give Mr Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to pre-empt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue,” Alford added.

On his show on Tuesday, Kimmel said: “We had some new lows over the weekend with the Maga gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it”.

Tyler Robinson, the suspect in Kirk’s shooting, does not appear to be ideologically conservative or a supporter of United States President Donald Trump.

According to charging documents from prosecutors released earlier, Robinson sent a message to his roommate that he “had enough of [Kirk’s] hatred”.

Kimmel’s contract with ABC was set to expire next year, and there was speculation about whether it would be renewed, particularly after the announcement in July that CBS owner Paramount would cancel its top-rated late-night show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr criticised Kimmel earlier today, suggesting the federal agency could pull broadcast licences owned by parent company Disney.

Licences are given to local stations, not networks, and revocations are extremely rare.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr told conservative podcast host Benny Johnson.

“These companies can find ways to change conduct and take actions on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

Carr said he could “certainly see a path forward for suspension” for Kimmel at the network, something the FCC would have no involvement in.

Carr has also previously criticised the ABC show The View.

The decision by ABC is likely to be seen as a concession to network critics.

In December, the company agreed to put US$15 million towards Trump’s presidential library to settle a defamation lawsuit.