Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy spoke out in favor of ABC’s decision to indefinitely pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! from the air.
“With Kimmel getting canned I’m seeing lots of people talking about the hypocrisy of cancel culture,” Portnoy, 48, posted via X on Wednesday, September 17. “To me Cancel culture is when people go out of their way to dig up old tweets, videos etc looking for dirt on somebody they don’t like in an effort to get them fired. Like if Kimmel got canceled for s— he did on the Man Show that would be cancel culture.”
Kimmel, 57, co-created The Man Show, a former sketch comedy series that was aimed at a male audience. He co-hosted the first four seasons of the show with the show’s co-creator, Adam Carrolla, from 1999 to 2002, before turning over the hosting duties to Joe Rogan and Doug Stanhope for seasons 5 and 6.
“But when a person says something that a ton of people find offensive, rude, dumb in real time and then that person is punished for it that’s not cancel culture,” Portnoy continued. “That is consequences for your actions.”
Shonda Rhimes and More Stars React to Jimmy Kimmel’s Show Pulled From ABC
Portnoy doubled down on his stance in a video posted to social media on Thursday, September 18.
“This is simply a case of the juice not being worth the squeeze for an employer with an employee causing major headaches with year over year declining ratings in a world where late night tv is being phased out,” he wrote in the Instagram video’s caption.
Portnoy seemingly agreed with ABC’s decision to immediately remove Kimmel from their lineup on Wednesday.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live will be pre-empted indefinitely,” an ABC spokesperson confirmed to Us Weekly.
The decision was made after Nexstar Media, one of the biggest owners of TV stations in the U.S., reportedly threatened to cut the show in response to Kimmel’s comments about the death of conservative political commentator Charlie Kirk.
Kirk was shot and killed during a speaking engagement at Utah Valley University on September 10. He was 31 years old.
In a statement on Wednesday, Nexstar said that it “strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets.”
Kimmel discussed Kirk’s murder on the Monday, September 15, episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which came days after 22-year-old Tyler Robinson was taken into custody in connection to Kirk’s shooting.
“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 with everything they can to score political points from,” Kimmel said. “In between the finger pointing, there was grieving.”
Kimmel also turned his attention to President Donald Trump, to whom Kirk was a close ally. The late night host criticized Trump, 79, for showing a lack of empathy in the aftermath of Kirk’s death.
“This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend,” Kimmel claimed. “This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish.”
Barstool Sports Founder Dave Portnoy’s Ups and Downs Through the Years
Portnoy, who has made a career out of speaking his mind, was recently forced to apologize for taking part in a scandal of his own.
The Barstool founder admitted that his company played a major role in spreading a false rumor about an Ole Miss college student sleeping with her boyfriend’s father.
“I get why the family is pissed,” Portnoy told NBC Nightly News on April 10. “I’m sad and I wish we didn’t play any part in it.”
In response, Portnoy said he would work to “up Barstool’s editorial standards.”
