Who is Karl Austen? Jimmy Kimmel seen smirking as he arrived at his attorney's office a day after ABC cancelled his show over Charlie Kirk remarks

After his controversial comment about Charlie Kirk's death earlier this week, Jimmy Kimmel is facing a strong backlash over social media, with his late-night show on ABC also being pulled off-air indefinitely.

Kimmel, who appears to be having a rough week, was spotted driving out of his LA residence on Thursday (September 18), and had a visible smirk on his face as he headed to the office of his attorney, Karl Austen. 

Four hours later, the media figure was also spotted outside of the attorney's office, after which he made his way out through the back gate of the parking garage.

Karl Austen is a high-profile defense attorney in LA. Austen pursued law from the Harvard Law School, and went on to join to the Jackoway Tyerman law firm. 

In 1996, Karl Austen became a partner at the firm, and six years later, in 2002, his name was added to it. 

As an attorney at the firm, Austen has represented many big names in Hollywood - from producers like Marc Platt to actors like Jessica Biel, Joseph Gordon, Jude Law, Chad Egan, Kristen Wigg, and Jonah Hill. Writers and directors have also been on his client roster. 

Karl Austen's latest legal feat was the $100 million deal of Fox's renewal of Seth MacFarlane's cartoon comedy web venture with Google and Media Rights Capital. 

While the intent behind Jimmy Kimmel's visit to Karl Austen hasn't been revealed at the moment, it's likely to be related to the media personality's latest troubles with ABC. 

🚨OFFICIAL: JIMMY KIMMEL CANCELED

Here’s the clip about Charlie Kirks death — that led to Jimmy Kimmel being pulled from 32 ABC stations: pic.twitter.com/wtbE6945nY

— Jeremy Kamali (@JeremyKamali) September 17, 2025

For the unversed, Jimmy addressed Charlie Kirk's shooting in his opening monologue on Monday night (September 15), saying:

"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."

Kimmel's statement soon went viral on social media, with netizens calling for his removal from ABC over it. Brendan Carr - the chairperson at the FCC - was one of them, who threatened to take action against both Kimmel and ABC during a podcast interview. 

The future of Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show was already bleak before his Charlie Kirk comment

While the current blow to Kimmel's TV career started with his insensitive comments about Charlie Kirk's shooting, a Page Six source claims that the decision to axe Jimmy Kimmel Live! might've been a long time coming. 

And the reason behind it? Kimmel's outspoken opening monologues. 

According to the source, Bob Iger "doesn't want to be at war with Donald Trump right now, just as he has stabilized Disney... I don't know what they are planning, but maybe the uproar is so loud Jimmy can't come back." 

So far, neither Kimmel nor Disney has made any public comment on the matter.