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MSNBC and Comedy Central have cancelled Monday airings of Morning Joe and The Daily Show following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump on Saturday.
Trump, 78, was struck by a bullet in the right ear during an outdoor campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday evening.
The bloodied former president was rushed from the stage by Secret Service agents. He was treated in hospital for minor injuries.
A rally-goer was killed and two others critically injured. The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20,was shot dead by snipers from his perch on a rooftop outside of the event’s security perimeter.
Both Trump and Joe Biden called for “unity” following the assassination attempt.
The president delivered a rare address from the Oval Office on Sunday night calling on all sides to “lower the temperature” across the political sphere.
MSNBC cancelled Monday’s edition of its popular breakfast show, hosted by anchors Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, out of concern that guests could make any insensitive comments following the shooting, CNN reported.
“Given the gravity and complexity of this unfolding story, NBC News, NBC News NOW and MSNBC have remained in rolling breaking news coverage since Saturday evening,” a NBCUniversal News Group spokesperson said.
“As we continue to cover this story into the week, the networks will continue to cross simulcast, alternating between NBC News, NBC News NOW and ‘MSNBC Reports,’ so there is one news feed covering this developing situation.”
A post on X from Monday Joe said that the show will return on Tuesday.
The Daily Show also cancelled its Monday program, according to the show’s X account, and said it would return on Tuesday from the New York studio.
The program, hosted by Jon Stewart, had been expected to broadcast this week directly from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Trump is expected to formally accept the GOP nomination for president later this week.
“Our apologies for the inconvenience, but due to logistical issues and the evolving situation in Milwaukee, we need to reschedule our events on the ground in Wisconsin and will look to make those up in the coming weeks,” the post read.
In the UK, Channel 4 pulled a vintage episode of The Simpsons on Sunday, titled “Lisa the Iconoclast”, because it features a joke referencing a political assassination.
