“John Oliver better be careful”: HBO host trends online after ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ pulled off-air over Charlie Kirk assassin joke

American talk show host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show Jimmy Kimmel Live! has been pulled off-air after his recent comments about the suspected shooter of Charlie Kirk, aka Tyler Robinson, went viral. On September 17, the show’s network, ABC, also confirmed that the talk show was indefinitely suspended after the Federal Communications Commission head called out his remarks.

On his September 15 episode, Kimmel said:

“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.”

Jimmy also condemned Trump for the manner in which he was “grieving” the murder of his “friend,” by redecorating the White House rather than releasing the long-awaited Epstein list.

Now, in the wake of Jimmy Kimmel’s show being taken off the air and suspended indefinitely, his fellow late-night show host, John Oliver, is trending online. Oliver, who’s also a British-American comedian, is known for making political jokes on his HBO show, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

For instance, X user @joexhendo wrote a post reading:

“John Oliver better be careful. F**k cancelling the show, they gon f**k around and kill that n***a.”

Several others joined the conversation and shared similar comments on the platform.

“Paramount is trying to buy Warner Bros, who owns HBO. John Oliver won’t make it through the next 4 years. This country sucks,” a netizen wrote.

“John Oliver, get behind me,” another netizen wrote.

“John Oliver is relatively safe because he has a paywall behind his. Those who hate him are not paying to see him. But our network boys are not. Fallon is about to just turn into an hour-long commercial because he's not going to say anything ever again. Not that he did before,” a user wrote.

Others continued to weigh in.

“Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert should start their own late-night talk show. Or just continue their podcast with Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, and John Oliver,” another user wrote.

“At this rate, the next news will be they revoke John Oliver’s citizenship and deport him to the UK. Just awful stuff,” a fan wrote.

“If they get John Oliver, I’m starting a revolution,” wrote another.

Jimmy Kimmel has continued to maintain his silence on the matter, as has John Oliver, who was recently in the news for his playful jab at fellow comedian and host Nate Bargatze, who hosted the 2025 Primetime Emmy Awards.

While accepting his own award for Outstanding Scripted Variety Series, Oliver said,

“F**k you, Nate Bargatze, that is a lot of money for you, and you can add a f**k to the swear jar as well.”

It was later bleeped by the broadcasters.

According to Mashable, during a post-Emmys debriefing, Oliver and Kimmel spoke about Stephen Colbert winning the Outstanding Talk Series award. Oliver told Kimmel,

"The right thing to happen was for [Colbert] to win. The funniest thing to happen would have been if you had won. Most of me wanted him to win. A part of me, the part of me that I like more, just wanted to see your face go, 'Oh, no. Not like this'."

Jimmy appeared to agree with John and said, "I was like, 'Oh sh*t, if we win, this is a disaster.'"

Oliver went on to add they would have been “f**ked” as Colbert, whose show was recently cancelled, had his “whole staff there with him.”

“You'd have been booed onto the stage… You can see why a part of me, that as I'm saying it is now getting bigger, did kind of want that to happen,” Oliver quipped.

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Donald Trump celebrated Jimmy Kimmel’s show suspension

On Wednesday, Donald Trump praised ABC for taking Jimmy Kimmel Live! off-air, and called for the cancellation of Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers. Taking to Truth Social, the POTUS wrote:

“Great News for America: The ratings-challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible.”

Trump added,

“That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it, NBC!!! President DJT.”

Notably, Jimmy Kimmel not only discussed Charlie Kirk’s alleged shooter on his Monday episode, but also the President for his reactions to the assassination. Kimmel stated,

“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.”

The Emmy-winning comedian continued by mocking the President and saying, “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?”

Kimmel further added,

“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 bad about that instead of the (Jeffrey) Epstein list?”

Last week, after Charlie Kirk’s September 10 fatal shooting, Jimmy also condemned Trump for blaming the liberals for the death.

In July, another late-night show by Stephen Colbert was cancelled by CBS, effective from June 1, 2026. The network said the decision was “purely financial” and was “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content, or other matters.” However, speculations surfaced that it was due to Colbert’s frequent criticism of Trump.

At the time, the President celebrated Colbert’s cancellation and also declared that Jimmy Kimmel would be the “next” late-night show host to have his show cancelled. The POTUS wrote on Truth Social back then,

“I absolutely love that Colbert’ got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!”

According to Deadline, Nextar Media Group owns 32 ABC affiliates out of 200 partner stations. On Wednesday, its President, Andrew Alford, denounced Kimmel’s remarks as “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse.” Alford stated,

“We do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located. Continuing to give Mr Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time.”

He added,

“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.”

It is noteworthy that in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s murder, Jimmy Kimmel called the death “senseless.” He wrote on social media (Instagram) to stop "angry finger-pointing" and instead "for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human?" Kimmel also sent "love" to the Kirks and "to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence."

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Charlie Kirk, 31, was shot in the neck and killed on campus at Utah Valley University on September 10, while speaking at a Turning Point USA event titled The American Comeback Tour. Tyler Robinson, 22, has been arrested as the suspected shooter.

Kirk’s memorial service will take place in Arizona on September 21. He is survived by his wife Erika and their two children.