President Barack Obama has canceled his "surprise" appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" this week, Fox News reports.
Obama is scheduled for a fundraiser in California on Wednesday, and various news outlets began reporting that Obama would tape a segment with Kimmel before the studio audience arrived at The El Capitan theater in Los Angeles, where's Kimmel's show originates.
The segment was originally scheduled to be comedy, but with crises in Ukraine and Israel, a more serious tone was decided upon, according to
TMZ.com.
Fox News contributor Byron York tweeted late Monday afternoon that the White House told Fox that Obama would not appear on Kimmel's show.
Fox's Bill O'Reilly also mentioned the cancellation on his Monday night show.
TMZ updated its post to say a Kimmel show representative said the Obama appearance had been canceled. But the website said its sources at ABC and the Los Angeles Police Department insisted it was still on.
Obama has been under fire in the past week for continuing his schedule after a Malaysia Airlines 777 was shot down near the Ukraine-Russia border and Israel began a ground offensive in Gaza to take out Hamas rockets and the tunnels they use to fire them at Israeli cities.
Before that, he was criticized even by some members of his own party for not visiting the Mexican border while at Texas fundraisers. Obama said he didn't need a photo-op at the border where thousands of unaccompanied children are entering the country illegally.
Critics say keeping up the schedule creates bad optics, while supporters say that changing the schedule could create a perception of panic.
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