CHEQUERS, England Sept 18 (Reuters) - U.S. President

Donald Trump on Thursday praised ABC's decision to pull

"Jimmy Kimmel Live" off the air, saying the late-night

television host had said "a horrible thing" about assassinated

political activist Charlie Kirk.

Walt-Disney ( DIS ) owned ABC said on Wednesday it was pulling the

show after Kimmel's comments that conservatives were using

Kirk's killing to score political points.

"Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than

anything else and he said a horrible thing about a great

gentleman known as Charlie Kirk," Trump said during a news

conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Kirk, a close conservative ally of Trump, was killed by a

sniper's bullet on Sept. 10 at a university campus in Utah,

where state prosecutors on Tuesday vowed to seek the death

penalty against his accused killer.

"Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person. He had very bad

ratings, and they should have fired him a long time ago. So, you

know, you can call that free speech or not. He was fired for

lack of talent," Trump said.