Fact Check: Did Coca-Cola drop Jimmy Kimmel after remarks about Charlie Kirk?

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH: In mid-September 2025, a rumor circulated on Facebook and other social platforms claiming Coca-Cola had dropped late-night host Jimmy Kimmel after “disgusting” comments about the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Kirk, 31, was fatally shot during an outdoor event at Utah Valley University on September 10. Days later, Kimmel’s ABC show faced a temporary suspension, and Nexstar Media Group announced it would pull 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' from its 28 ABC affiliates “for the foreseeable future.”

Claim: Coca-Cola dropped Jimmy Kimmel after comments about Charlie Kirk

Screenshots of a video posted on the satirical Facebook page America’s Last Line of Defense (ALLOD) alleged Coca-Cola had severed ties with Kimmel. The post, which received more than 700,000 views, featured an onscreen caption reading “Coca-Cola drops Jimmy Kimmel like a bad habit after ‘disgusting’ comments about Charlie Kirk” alongside a still photo of the host.

The viral posts implied that Coca-Cola, which advertises heavily on television, had ended a sponsorship deal with Kimmel’s show in response to his remarks about Charlie Kirk’s death. In the comments section, several users treated the claim as factual, sharing it as evidence of Kimmel being “punished” for his on-air comments.

This followed a tense period for ABC and Nexstar. On September 17, ABC temporarily suspended 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' after Nexstar announced it was pulling the show from its affiliates, citing Kimmel’s remarks about Kirk’s death.

Disney, which owns ABC, was also seeking federal regulatory approvals at the time, fueling speculation about political pressure or corporate fallout.

Fact Check: No evidence Coca-Cola pulled sponsorship from 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!'

Despite widespread sharing, no credible news outlet or corporate press release supported the claim that Coca-Cola had dropped Jimmy Kimmel or canceled any sponsorship deal.

Searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo turned up no announcements from Coca-Cola or ABC corroborating the rumor.

The source of the rumor, America’s Last Line of Defense, is a satirical network that explicitly labels its content as parody. The Facebook video that spread the story included a disclaimer reading, “Nothing on this page is real,” and the page’s “about” section similarly describes its content as “parody, satire and tomfoolery.”

In other words, the Coca-Cola claim originated from a known satire page rather than from real corporate action.

Kimmel mentioned Charlie Kirk on several broadcasts after the shooting but did not insult Kirk or his family. He condemned gun violence and called the murder “senseless.” In later monologues, he criticized political figures, including Donald Trump and JD Vance, and mocked the White House’s new ballroom plans, but did not make any verified remarks that Coca-Cola could plausibly construe as “disgusting” about Kirk himself.

The America’s Last Line of Defense page and its network of sites (like Dunning-Kruger-Times.com) frequently published fabricated claims about public figures, later pointing to their disclaimers when fact-checkers investigated.

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.