Walt Disney-owned ABC said it was pulling Jimmy Kimmel Live off the air after remarks by the show's late-night host about Charlie Kirk's assassination sparked harsh criticism by the head of the FCC.
Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening to have the broadcasting licences of television networks revoked for airing negative stories about him a day after ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show under pressure from the Trump-appointed chair of the country’s communications regulator.
The escalation of the Trump administration’s campaign against its critics in the wake of MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk’s killing is drawing accusations of censorship and cancel culture.
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.
— Jimmy Kimmel
The President has previously vowed to crack down on progressive non-governmental organizations and launched a US$15-billion lawsuit against The New York Times on Monday. Members of his administration and right-wing activists, meanwhile, have worked to get people fired for their comments about Mr. Kirk.
Flying back on Air Force One from a state visit to Britain on Thursday, Mr. Trump told reporters that TV networks should be shut down for criticizing him and not booking enough conservative guests.
“I’ve read someplace that the networks were 97 per cent against me, 97 per cent negative,” he said. “I would think maybe their licence should be taken away.”
The President added that “all they do is hit Trump” and “haven’t had a conservative on in years,” which should not be permitted. “They’re licensed, they’re not allowed to do that. They’re an arm of the Democrat Party.”
The previous evening, while at Windsor Castle, Mr. Trump took to Truth Social to celebrate Mr. Kimmel’s suspension and call for the firings of Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, two other late-night hosts who have mocked the President. “Do it NBC!!!”
On his show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, on Monday, Mr. Kimmel said Mr. Trump’s supporters were “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.”
Trump vows crackdown on left-wing groups after Charlie Kirk’s assassination
He also aired a clip in which Mr. Trump brushed off a reporter’s question about how he was holding up after Mr. Kirk’s killing to instead talk up a new White House ballroom he is planning to build. “He’s at the fourth stage of grief: construction,” Mr. Kimmel quipped. “This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.”
On Wednesday, Brendan Carr, the Trump-appointed chair of the Federal Communications Commission, threatened to investigate the Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, and also urged local stations to refuse to air Mr. Kimmel’s show. Such an investigation could lead to broadcasters being stripped of their access to the airwaves.
“This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead,” Mr. Carr told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson.
U.S. President Donald Trump argues that Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show was pulled because of 'bad ratings.'
The Associated Press
He added that individual stations should pre-empt “garbage” programming to avoid “fines or licence revocations from the FCC.”
Shortly after, Nexstar Media Group, which owns 32 ABC affiliate stations, announced that it would pull Mr. Kimmel’s show from its lineup. Andrew Alford, the head of the company’s broadcasting division, described Mr. Kimmel’s comments about Mr. Kirk as “offensive and insensitive.”
Nexstar currently has a major case in front of the FCC, which must approve its proposed US$6.2-billion deal to buy Tegna, another company that owns scores of local television stations.
By Wednesday evening, ABC had suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! entirely.
Critics accused Mr. Trump of abrogating freedom of speech, guaranteed under the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
A woman wears a Statue of Liberty costume as she holds an image of a broken heart, outside the El Capitan Entertainment Centre, where Jimmy Kimmel Live is recorded for broadcast, in Los Angeles, on Wednesday.Daniel Cole/Reuters
Former president Barack Obama said Thursday that the Trump administration is taking “cancel culture” to “a new and dangerous level” by threatening to punish companies unless they silence Mr. Trump’s critics.
“This is precisely the kind of government coercion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent – and media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to it,” he wrote on X.
Anna Gomez, the lone Democratic commissioner at the FCC, said Mr. Trump and his officials were imposing “censorship and control,” using Mr. Kirk’s death as a pretext. “This administration is increasingly using the weight of government power to suppress lawful expression,” she said.
Congressional Democrats, for their part, unveiled a bill meant to protect people’s free speech against the actions of government officials. The legislation is unlikely to pass in the Republican-majority Congress but could work to keep the issue front and centre.
“It’s repulsive – repulsive – that the Trump administration is perversely using this awful death to supercharge their long-standing campaign against political opponents,” Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, said at a news conference.
On his show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Mr. Kimmel suggested that the suspect in Mr. Kirk’s death might be a Trump supporter.Mike Blake/Reuters
Tom Wheeler, a former FCC chair, said that punishing a broadcaster for political reasons is unconstitutional. “If it ever got to a court, the court would say that this is a first amendment violation, that it is highly illegal and inappropriate,” he said in an interview.
But he said Mr. Carr has avoided judicial scrutiny by putting pressure on broadcasters and technology companies through investigations rather than by passing formal policies through the commission, which could be appealed.
Since taking over as chair in January, Mr. Carr has launched investigations into CBS, NPR, PBS, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta and NBC owner Comcast. Among other things, his investigations have targeted diversity, equity and inclusion programs, content moderation decisions and various aspects of political news coverage.
While Mr. Trump and his supporters have long assailed instances of cancel culture on the political left, the President has tried to get people he disagrees with fired or otherwise punished.
Trump says he’s designating anti-fascist Antifa movement as a terrorist organization
During the election campaign last year, he threatened to have the broadcast licences of ABC, CBS and NBC revoked over their coverage of him. Earlier this year, ABC and CBS agreed to pay US$15-million and US$16-million, respectively, to settle lawsuits brought by the President.
In July, after CBS announced the coming cancellation for financial reasons of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, a frequent Trump critic, the President posted on social media: “I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next.”
Over the past week, activist allies of Mr. Trump and some government officials have worked to collate negative social-media comments about Mr. Kirk with information about the commenters’ employers. The comments have ranged from making light of Mr. Kirk’s death to criticizing his politics.
Those either fired or suspended over their Kirk comments include a wide range of people: a Washington Post columnist, an MSNBC pundit, a comic book author, airline employees, teachers, a Secret Service agent, a Marine, a university administrator and a video game developer. The State Department has also said comments about Mr. Kirk could cause foreign nationals in the U.S. to face immigration consequences.
Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon touched on the suspension of 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' in the Thursday night episodes of their own late-night shows, while protesters took to the streets in front of ABC.
The Associated Press