Suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live!

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On September 17, 2025, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and its corporate parent, The Walt Disney Company, suspended production of the late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! indefinitely, following criticism from conservatives and public pressure from Trump administration officials over Jimmy Kimmel's monologue commentary about President Donald Trump and his supporters' reaction to the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Contents

The network's suspension of Kimmel sparked widespread backlash from political leaders and commentators, entertainers, entertainment industry unions, constitutional scholars and the public as well as boycotts against Disney/ABC and broadcast station owners Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group (whose respective decisions to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! from their ABC-affiliated stations over his monologue remarks prompted the network's own decision to suspend the program), and sparked debate about the erosion of freedom of speech in the United States amid calls by prominent conservatives to impose retaliatory and disciplinary actions against people celebrating, justifying, or trivializing Kirk's death or encourage further political violence.

Critics argued that comments made earlier that day by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr during his appearance on the YouTube conservative talk show The Benny Johnson Show condemning Kimmel's remarks, in which he threatened punitive regulatory action against ABC and owners of its affiliated stations (including, but not limited to, potential revocation of their broadcast licenses) if Kimmel was not reprimanded, violated the First Amendment as a possible act of jawboning. Subsequent remarks by Trump celebrating the suspension and suggestions of further crackdowns on critical speech directed towards him and his presidency drew concerns about encroaching authoritarianism under the Trump administration.

Background

Donald Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump has frequently attacked the American mainstream media, claiming it has a liberal bias and is "corrupt." He has also sued various media outlets for perceived inaccuracies or biases (often in the form of SLAPP litigation to extract concessions from outlets), and has used his position as president to pressure outlets he dislikes by interfering in their business operations, launching investigations and threatening to revoke broadcast licenses. In addition, after failing to advance budget measures to eliminate federal funding for public broadcasting during his first administration, in July 2025, Trump requested of a rescission bill to eliminate federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which passed the Republican-controlled Congress largely along party lines in July 2025, despite warnings from public media advocates that it would result in the closure of some stations and hamper access to emergency alerts in rural communities; the CPB's defunding and resulting closure would result in some PBS and NPR member stations undergoing staffing and programming cuts (with some electing to drop PBS and/or NPR programming altogether).

In his personal policies platform for the 2024 campaign, Agenda 47, President Trump promised to "shatter the left-wing censorship regime." In his 2025 inaugural address, he promised that: "After years and years of illegal and unconstitutional federal efforts to restrict free expression, I also will sign an executive order to immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America. Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents — something I know something about. We will not allow that to happen. It will not happen again. [1] On the same day, he signed the Executive Order 14149, "Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship."

During his first term, he tried to have Kimmel censored by Disney, [2] and after the July 2025 cancellation of CBS' The Late Show with Stephen Colbert , he quipped that Kimmel was next. [3]

Brendan Carr

Dating to November 2024, when he was being considered for the FCC chairmanship following Trump's reelection to a non-consecutive second term, Brendan Carr—who previously made public statements arguing against government intervention in regulating non-obscene broadcast material and restricting access to content based on ideological views expressed by certain outlets—had argued in favor of punishing broadcasters for alleged anti-conservative bias, and described content not being in the public interest if they were biased against conservatives. [4]

He had also authored the FCC chapter of the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 conservative policy platform. [5] [6] [7] After the suspension, People magazine reported that social media users found previous comments made by Carr that were contrary to his stated reasons for pressuring the suspension of Kimmel. In 2019, Carr stated: "The FCC does not have a roving mandate to police speech in the name of the 'public interest.'" [8] In another post from 2022, Carr stated: "Political satire is one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech. It challenges those in power while using humor to draw more into the discussion. That's why people in influential positions have always targeted it for censorship." [8]

Jimmy Kimmel

On his part, Jimmy Kimmel has been a relentless critic of President Trump since his first term, [9] declaring that "One of the most fun parts of my job is knowing that he hates being made fun of, and making fun of him," [10] culminating with Kimmel reading and mocking a Truth Social post by then-presumptive Republican presidential nominee Trump at the closing of the 2024 Academy Awards. [11] While Kimmel and ABC had signed a three-year contract extension, running through the 2025–26 season, to continue his show in September 2022, he had considered ending the program just before the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes. [a]

On the night of September 10, none of the late-night talk shows mentioned the assassination of Charlie Kirk; only The Late Show with Stephen Colbert included a message preceding the pre-recorded broadcast; [12] Kimmel posted condolences on Instagram, abhorring the conservative activist and Turning Point USA founder's killing and criticizing "finger pointing" by conservatives (who in the wake of Kirk's death, advocated for retribution against the left, including calls for civil war, claiming the shooter was a leftist despite little knowledge of his political leanings and based on perceptions of a "violent left" that contradict evidence that most political violence in America is perpetrated by right-wing extremists). [13]

On September 11, almost all the late-night shows referred to the Kirk killing; Kimmel said, "His death has amplified our anger, our differences, and I've seen a lot of extraordinarily vile responses to this from both sides of the political spectrum. Some people are cheering this, which is something I won't ever understand." He then criticized President Trump for not trying to "bring the country together," like former presidents such as Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush had done. [14] [15]

Development

In his September 15, 2025, opening monologue, Kimmel said about the reaction from conservatives to Charlie Kirk's assassination that "[w]e 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." [16] When Kimmel made this comment, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had not found evidence of shooter Tyler James Robinson's "background, political leanings or a possible motive, saying the investigation was ongoing". [17] His mother told prosecutors that he had "shifted toward the political left and had become 'more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented'," although Robinson's exact ideological views were not fully clear; while he was registered in Utah as an unaffiliated voter, he had not voted for any major-party state or federal candidates since he became legally eligible to vote in April 2021. By September 19, sources close to the FBI investigation told NBC News that they had not found any evidence so far connecting Robinson to any left-wing organization and that he likely acted alone. [16] [18] [19] Hollywood Reporter editor-at-large James Hibberd wrote that Kimmel's remark was an aside whose "clunky wording" converted it from the words he said "into the inflammatory conclusion that has been widely reached". [20] The next day, right-wing media outlets initially focused on Kimmel's subsequent remark, which compared Trump's reaction to Kirk's death to a four-year-old mourning a goldfish, referring to Trump's response to a reporter's question about how he was feeling about Kirk's death by abruptly segueing into talking about the construction of a ballroom at the White House. [21] [22] Then outrage, stoked by social media influencers and right-wing media, began to grow about Kimmel's "MAGA gang" comment. [21]

On September 17, 2025, during an interview on conservative commentator Benny Johnson's podcast, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr threatened punitive action against ABC, Disney and independent owners of ABC-affiliated stations if Kimmel was not reprimanded for his monologue remarks, stating "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead." [8] He called Kimmel's comments "truly sick" and claimed his agency "has a strong case for holding Kimmel, ABC, and network parent Disney. accountable for spreading misinformation", arguing that Kimmel "appeared to be making an intentional effort to mislead the public that Kirk's assassin was a right-wing Trump supporter." [16] [23] [24] Carr argued that Kimmel's remarks could be seen as not in the public interest, which he argued is required to hold a broadcast license; [25] however, the FCC's authority in regulating broadcast content is largely limited to obscene material (including graphic profanity, nudity and explicit sexual content, and excessive violence), advertising during children's programs, sponsorship identification requirements and the conduct of on-air contests. The agency officially holds that "the public interest is best served by permitting free expression of views", and that "rather than suppress speech, communications law and policy seeks to encourage responsive 'counter-speech' from others." [26] While Carr claimed that Kimmel's remarks may have been an act of "news distortion" (although as a late-night entertainment talk show with satirical news commentary, it is doubtful that Jimmy Kimmel Live! would be subject to those requirements), broadcasters are only subject to enforcement if it can be proven that they deliberately distorted a factual news report whereas factual inaccuracies are not actionable. [26] [b]

Hours later, in response to Kimmel's comments, Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group, announced that they would pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! from all of their ABC-affiliated stations effective immediately. [27] Nexstar (which operates 28 ABC stations) and Sinclair (which operates 38 ABC stations) are two of the largest operators of ABC-affiliated stations, totaling a combined 23.84% share of the network's national broadcast coverage (through both wholly owned stations and management agreements with various affiliated licensees such as Mission Broadcasting, Cunningham Broadcasting and Deerfield Media), including coverage in such major markets as Washington, D.C., Seattle, St. Louis, Salt Lake City and Nashville. [c] Kimmel acknowledged prior to the incident that his show, like most late-night programs in the 2020s, was particularly dependent upon affiliate fees for financial solvency; he noted that a portion of ABC's affiliate fee revenue was earmarked specifically for its late-night progtramming, including his show. [28] Nexstar stated that it "strongly objects" to Kimmel's comments and called them "offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse", [29] while Sinclair stated it would refuse to air the show until "formal discussions are held with ABC regarding the network's commitment to professionalism and accountability", and called for Kimmel to apologize to Kirk's family and to make a donation to Kirk's conservative outreach organization Turning Point USA. [30] [31] [d] Shortly afterward, ABC announced that Jimmy Kimmel Live! would be suspended indefinitely. [25] [32] [33]

Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger and Disney Entertainment co-chair Dana Walden made the decision to suspend the show. [16] [34] During discussions with the executives concerning the right-wing criticism of his monologue, Kimmel reportedly refused to apologize but planned to clarify his comments and specifically call out Trump supporters for misconstruing his remarks on his September 17 episode. Sources close to the negotiations said that ABC "hope[d] that it will be able to have Kimmel back on the air 'soon'", although whether Kimmel was willing to return was "unclear". [16] [35] According to unnamed Hollywood Reporter sources, Kimmel felt that what he said did not require an apology, [36] and intended to defend his remark, with a source saying that it had been "grossly mischaracterized by a certain group of people". [34] Disney executives took under consideration the safety of employees and advertisers, as company employees and Kimmel's staff had reportedly received death threats following Carr's remarks and many of them were doxxed on social media. [37]

Nexstar claimed that its decision to pull Kimmel was made unilaterally and was not influenced by any correspondence with the FCC or other agencies; however, it was noted that Nexstar was in the early stages of seeking FCC approval for its $6.2-billion acquisition of rival media company Tegna (announced on August 19), [e] while Nexstar and Sinclair were among the station owners that had been lobbying the FCC to revise its broadcast ownership rules including a proposal to eliminate a longstanding rule—which requires Congressional approval—that bars broadcasting companies from owning local television stations collectively reaching more than 39% of U.S. households. [38] [39] [f] Separately, Disney is seeking permission for its purchases of streaming pay-TV service Fubo (announced on January 6, and which it plans to operate alongside the pay-TV assets of Hulu) and a majority stake in NFL Media (owner of NFL Network, announced on August 6), [g] which would require federal approval from the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). [40] ABC scheduled reruns of Celebrity Family Feud in the show's timeslot through at least September 19, pending future developments. [41] [42] Sinclair had initially intended to air a special edition of its syndicated news program The National News Desk examining Kirk's life and political legacy in Kimmel's timeslot on the company's ABC affiliates (as well as its non-ABC network affiliates and independent stations) on September 19, but scrapped the broadcast hours before it was set to air; the special was instead posted on the program's official YouTube channel. [30] [43] [44]

Variety described the suspension coming after "several prominent conservatives have called for any critic of [Kirk's] work to be silenced, no matter how nuanced the argument may be" in the period following his September 10 assassination during a campus debate tour stop at Utah Valley University. [45] [46] Jimmy Kimmel Live! crew members will be paid through the week of September 20, while discussions continue to bring the show back on the air, with Disney reportedly "hopeful" that it can come to a resolution with Kimmel. [47] [48]

Reactions

Domestic

Politicians and government officials

President Donald Trump, a frequent critic of Kimmel and other late-night comedians dating to his first presidency, responded to Kimmel's suspension on Truth Social on September 18, deriding Kimmel and Stephen Colbert (whose CBS program, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert , had been subject to speculation that its July 17 cancellation, reportedly due to high production costs and declining advertising revenue, was tied to Paramount Global's settlement of a lawsuit Trump filed in December 2024 against CBS alleging deceptive editing of a 60 Minutes broadcast featuring then-Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris), and calling on NBC to fire both Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon and Late Night host Seth Meyers. Trump wrote: "Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that's possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!" [49]

In subsequent days, Trump made several remarks reiterating support for punitive actions (such as license revocations) against media outlets for what he perceives as negative coverage, claiming without evidence that the networks are "an arm of the Democrat[ic] party" and that he "read ... that the networks were 97% against me", [50] that negative coverage of him was "illegal", [51] [52] and that "dishonesty" would be grounds for broadcast outlets to lose their licenses. [53] Trump praised FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, calling him "outstanding" and a "tough guy" who "loves our country." [54] White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt denied that pressure from the Trump administration prompted Kimmel's suspension, asserting in a Fox News interview that "the decision to fire Jimmy Kimmel and to cancel his show came from executives at ABC". [55]

Despite the criticism that he faced for the FCC's alleged role in Kimmel's suspension, Carr suggested further action against ABC's The View in a September 18 appearance on The Scott Jennings Radio Show, asserting that the daytime panel talk show (which the network produces through its news division and features discussions on current events and pop culture) could be in violation of equal time rules, despite the program having featured both liberal and conservative political figures; in addition, the cited rule only requires broadcasters to provide comparable time and placement for opposing candidates and does not require them to provide them with "programs identical to the initiating candidate". [56] FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez defended Kimmel's right to freedom of speech, arguing that his remarks criticizing Republicans for their response to Kirk's assassination were protected by the First Amendment. [25]

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, joined by House Minority Whip Katherine Clark and House Democratic Caucus chair Pete Aguilar, denounced Carr's comments and called for him to resign. [57] Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer also called for Carr's resignation, [58] and along with ten Senate Democrats, wrote a letter to Carr criticizing his comments and demanding answers to questions about their implications for broadcasters. [59] Along with Ted Cruz, Republican Senators Jerry Moran and Lisa Murkowski and U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Brett Guthrie criticized or expressed concern about Carr's comments. [59] Following Trump's comments backing Carr, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy accused Trump of "using the power of the White House, in this case the power of his regulatory agencies, to try to shut down any speech that opposes him". [60]

Democratic Representative Ro Khanna described Carr's actions and Kimmel's suspension as the "largest assault on the First Amendment and free speech in modern history". A motion filed by Khanna to subpoena Carr to appear before the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee was defeated by Republicans in a 24–21 party-line vote; however, Democratic Representative and ranking committee member Robert Garcia said he planned to work with Chair James Comer to secure Carr's testimony before the committee. [61] California Governor Gavin Newsom tangentially cited Kimmel's suspension and other efforts to target individuals who spoke out against Kirk (including death threats, workplace firings, and doxings) since the latter's assassination, accusing Republicans of not believing in free speech and "censoring [people] in real time". [62] Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker called Kimmel's suspension an "attack on free speech [that] cannot be allowed to stand", and called on elected officials to speak out against it saying, "A free and democratic society cannot silence comedians because the President doesn't like what they say." [63]

On his Verdict podcast, Cruz (who holds oversight authority over the FCC as chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation) criticized FCC chair Carr's behavior, saying his threat to ABC was "right out of Goodfellas " before adding: "That's right out of a mafioso coming into a bar going, 'nice bar you have here, it'd be a shame if something happened to it.'" [64] He also claimed that it would set a precedent for a future Democratic FCC chair to exert pressure on broadcasters for offensive speech by conservatives. [64] [65] Kentucky Senator Rand Paul said that Carr had "no business" threatening license revocations over Kimmel's remarks, while stating that "despicable comments, you have the right to say them, but you don't have the right to employment" and argued that "you can be fired for not being popular". [66] In a post on X (formerly Twitter), former President Barack Obama said that media companies should "start standing up" for free speech media "rather than capitulating to it", citing both Kimmel's suspension and the dismissal of Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah over comments about Kirk, and criticized the Trump administration for taking cancel culture to "a new and dangerous level" by "routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it does not like". [67]

Media and entertainment industry

Numerous entertainers and performers, including Ben Stiller, Pedro Pascal, Kathryn Hahn, Rosie O'Donnell, Adam Carolla, Wanda Sykes, Mike Birbiglia, Jean Smart and Mark Ruffalo, expressed their support for Kimmel while criticizing Disney/ABC and Carr for the suspension. Producer Damon Lindelof vowed that he "can't in good conscience" work for Disney/ABC unless the company lifted Kimmel's suspension. [68] [69] Some performers like O'Donnell, Marisa Tomei, Tatiana Maslany and Amy Landecker called for boycotts against Disney, including urging fans to cancel subscriptions to Disney-owned streaming services Disney+, Hulu and ESPN, and boycott ABC programs, Disney products (including movies, theme parks and merchandise), and advertisers. [70] [71]

Fellow late-night hosts Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon and Bill Maher, [72] as well as former hosts David Letterman, Jay Leno [73] and Conan O'Brien, [74] supported behind Kimmel. [75] On September 18, several late-night hosts discussed the suspension and speaking in support of Kimmel on their respective shows. [39] Colbert revived his former The Colbert Report persona and recurring segment "The Wørd" for that night's Late Show, making parallels between the suspension and his CBS program's cancellation. Fallon presented a monologue where he was constantly interjected by an off-screen announcer reading off pro-Trump statements. Stewart presented a "government-approved" version of his show that sarcastically praised the president and his administration on. Meyers addressed the situation during the recurring segment "A Closer Look", sarcastically praising Trump. [76] [77] [78] Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner expressed support for Kimmel and criticized the FCC for intimidating ABC and Disney. [79]

Conservative commentators had mixed opinions on Kimmel's suspension, with most agreeing with ABC's decision. Fox News host Greg Gutfeld said on his late-night talk show on September 17 that he was not upset by the suspension and his guests (which included Dr. Drew Pinsky, who came to know Kimmel when they both worked at Los Angeles radio station KROQ in the 1990s) held "there were limits to free speech on network TV". Piers Morgan claimed Kimmel's remarks had caused "understandable outrage all over America", adding: "Why is he being heralded as some kind of free speech martyr?", while Megyn Kelly attacked Kimmel for the remarks and accused him of lying about the shooter's ideology, saying "good riddance." [78] [80] [81] Candace Owens (who once served as communications director of Kirk's organization Turning Point USA), however, argued that Kimmel's suspension by ABC and the demands asked of him by Sinclair Broadcast Group were not justified and that she wanted "the attacks on free speech to stop." [82]

Within hours of the announcement that Kimmel had been suspended by ABC, three entertainment industry unions—SAG-AFTRA, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the American Federation of Musicians (AFM)—each issued statements condemning Disney/ABC for the decision. SAG-AFTRA called ABC's decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel Live! "the type of suppression and retaliation that endangers everyone's freedoms" and the WGA stated it stands "united in opposition to anyone who uses their power and influence to silence the voices of writers, or anyone who speaks in dissent", while the AFM condemned Carr's role in the suspension and said the FCC "identified speech it did not like and threatened ABC with extreme reprisals", calling it an act of "state censorship". [83]

On September 18, SAG-AFTRA, AFM, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) and the Directors Guild of America (DGA) issued a joint statement expressing the unions' support for Kimmel and concern about the implication of the decision on freedom of speech, stating such "political pressure on broadcasters and artists chills free speech and threatens the livelihoods of thousands of working Americans". [84] That same day, more than 300 SAG-AFTRA and WGA members picketed outside the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank to protest ABC's decision to indefinitely suspend Kimmel. [85]

On September 20, ABC News Studios notified reporters and press photographers that it would scrap the red carpet for the September 21 Los Angeles premiere of Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery – The Untold Story; several of the musicians featured in the Hulu documentary who were also scheduled to perform at the event, including Sarah MacLachlan and Jewel, reportedly decided to cancel their appearances as a result of the Kimmel suspension controversy. [86] [87]

Civil liberties organizations

First Amendment advocacy organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) issued statements condemning the suspension and the government overreach from the Trump administration that allegedly led to the decision. ACLU Democracy and Technology Division director Christopher Anders said that Kimmel is "the latest target of the Trump administration's unconstitutional plan to silence its critics and control what the American people watch and read", accusing ABC and Nexstar of "cowering to threats" and capitulating to FCC chairman Brendan Carr by suspending Kimmel indefinitely. [88] [h] FIRE stated that the FCC has "no authority to control what a late night TV host can say, and the First Amendment protects Americans' right to speculate on current events even if those speculations later turn out to be incorrect", arguing that subjecting broadcasters to liability for factual inaccuracies would turn the FCC into an "arbiter of truth and cast an intolerable chill over the airwaves". [24] [i]

Public opinion

In addition to protests by entertainment unions, civilian protests had taken place outside of Disney's offices in Los Angeles and New York, [48] with calls for boycotting Disney products and cancelling subscriptions to the company's streaming services spreading across social media, while Google searches for "cancel Disney Plus" and "cancel Hulu" have spiked in the days following Kimmel's suspension. On Instagram, posts on the topic have comments about how users want to "stand for something" and "boycott all Disney movies". Multiple Reddit threads instructing and advising those supporting Kimmel to cancel their Disney+ subscriptions have logged over 1,000 comments. [71] [89] [90]

According to a YouGov survey of 2,927 American adults conducted on September 18, 50% of respondents disapproved of ABC pulling Jimmy Kimmel Live! following Carr's comments (42% of those strongly disapproved and 8% disapproved somewhat) and 35% strongly or somewhat supported the decision (26% of those strongly approved and 9% approved somewhat), while 16% were not sure. [91] A survey of more than 3,010 adults published by YouGov on September 19 found that 44% of respondents viewed the federal government as the greatest threat to free speech, more than activist groups (17%), social media companies (12%) or corporations (6%); 15% were unsure and 3% responded "none of the above". [92]

International

Media

On his RTL 4 satire program LUBACH , Dutch comedian Arjen Lubach, criticized Disney/ABC's decision to pull Kimmel's show, saying: "So Jimmy Kimmel's show has been cancelled by Disney because Donald Trump and a helpful bureaucrat are silencing everyone who dares criticize him ... Everything has to be exactly how Trump likes it. Everything has to be MAGA now." [93] [94] Later in the episode, an animated sequence shows a Trump Tower appearing behind the castle from the 2006 Walt Disney Pictures logo and "MAGA-fied" versions of popular Disney characters, such as Simba and Timon and Pumbaa wearing MAGA hats and singing "Hakuna MAGA-ta", Belle's father telling her "you're so hot, if you weren't my daughter, I'd probably be dating you", Aladdin and Jasmine pulled out of the sky and loaded into a van by ICE, "We Don't Talk About Bruno" changed into "We Don't Talk About Jeffrey", Prince Eric telling Ariel that he was going to "grab her by the pussy", and Anna saying that living snowman Olaf is proof that climate change is not real. The piece shows fictional upcoming Disney titles like " High School Musical Shooting", " JD Vance Live!", " The Lying King " and "Brendan Carrs ". [93] [94] [j]

Analysis

This event caused discussion about the possibility of a violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. [95] Adam Liptak, citing precedents, wrote, "It is not clear whether or how Mr. Kimmel's suspension might lead to a First Amendment case against the government or what precise question it would pose. Mr. Carr appeared to threaten both the network and its affiliates with regulatory action, though his agency's power is mostly over the licenses of local stations. But constitutional scholars said Supreme Court cases over more than 60 years indicate that the Trump administration's threats this week were in tension with the conventional understanding of what the Constitution allows." [96] Brent Skorup of the Cato Institute, citing precedents, criticized the power that the FCC holds since the New Deal times when Congress nationalized the broadcast spectrum and gave the FCC power to distribute licenses "in the public interest", concluding, "As long as the FCC retains the authority to police broadcast content, every licensed station operates under an implicit threat: say something a powerful political faction dislikes, and your license is in jeopardy. That's incompatible with a First Amendment worthy of the name." [97]

The September 18 episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was entirely dedicated to the discussion of the First Amendment and freedom of speech, [98] with interviews with Jake Tapper and David Remnick. Tapper attributed the situation to money interests influencing corporations' decisions above principles, a matter he also discussed in CNN, noting that companies owning TV stations need FCC's authorization to merge and to go above the FCC's rule that no company can own more than 39% of local TV stations. He concluded: "All of this at the end of it is about money. It's about rich men and women who need the Trump's administration approval to make even more money. And it's about a president and his minions openly using the powers of the presidency to silence speech and speakers that President Trump does not like." [99]

The New York Times compared the suspension, plus President Trump's expressed wishes to revoke broadcasting licenses from networks that do not favor him, to the situation comedians and journalists face in contemporary authoritarian regimes, such as China under Xi Jinping, Hungary under Viktor Orbán, India under Narendra Modi, Iran under the Ayatollahs, Russia under Vladimir Putin, Turkey under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Bolivarian Venezuela, also citing Italy during the Berlusconi era. [100]

Notes

  1. For further context, see:
    • Rose, Lacey Rose (September 20, 2022). "Jimmy Kimmel Re-Ups for Three Years, Taking 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' Through Season 23". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
    • Thomas, Carly (August 30, 2023). "Jimmy Kimmel Says He Was 'Very Intent on Retiring' Before Writers Strike Started". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
  2. For further context, see "The FCC and Speech". Federal Communications Commission . August 31, 2022. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
  3. Based on 2024–25 Nielsen market estimates, ABC owned-and-operated station subsidiary ABC Owned Television Stations (whose eight stations are mostly clustered in major markets like New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Houston) is the largest owner of ABC stations by cumulative national market share, covering 21.87% of American households.[ citation needed ] Individually, Sinclair and Nexstar are the second- and fourth-largest owners of ABC stations, reaching 14.56% and 9.28% of American households respectively (with The E. W. Scripps Company, with 17 affiliates covering 12.87% of the U.S., being the third-largest).
  4. For the press release statements, see:
  5. For further context, see Granthan-Philips, Wyatte; Chapman, Michelle (August 21, 2025). "Nexstar Media Group buying Tegna in deal worth $6.2 billion". Associated Press News . Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  6. On July 23, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down another longstanding FCC rule prohibiting ownership of two of the four highest-rated stations in a single market, which in most areas applied to stations owned or affiliated with the Big Four television networks, likely requiring the FCC to formally repeal the rule as part of the quadrennial ownership rulemaking process. This ruling spurred the Nexstar-Tegna deal as well as several other transactions undertaken by rival broadcaster Gray Media (including purchases of stations owned by Allen Media Group and Block Communications), despite many of these transactions requiring formal changes to broadcast ownership regulations. For further context, see Winslow, George (July 23, 2025). "U.S. Appeals Court Vacates FCC's Top-Four Station Ownership Rule". TVTechnology. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
  7. For further context, see Weprin, Alex (August 6, 2025). "NFL to Acquire Stake in ESPN as Part of Blockbuster Deal With Disney". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
  8. For the press release, see "ACLU Responds to Trump Administration Move Censoring Jimmy Kimmel" (Press release). American Civil Liberties Union. September 17, 2025. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
  9. For the press release, see "FIRE statement on FCC threat to revoke ABC broadcast license over Jimmy Kimmel remarks about Charlie Kirk" (Press release). Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. September 18, 2025. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
  10. For the video, see Lubach, Arjen (September 18, 2025). Disney pulls Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show off the air. LUBACH (Internet video). Retrieved September 20, 2025 via YouTube. Video in Dutch, includes subtitles in English. Total running time 6:27 min.

    References

    1. "The Inaugural Address". The White House. January 20, 2025. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
    2. Suebsaeng, Asawin; Rawnsley, Adam (February 26, 2023). "Trump White House Pressured Disney to Censor ... Jimmy Kimmel". Rolling Stone . Retrieved September 21, 2025. In early 2018 (...) President Donald Trump was busy targeting his idea of an enemy of the state: late night host Jimmy Kimmel.
      The then-president, according to two former Trump administration officials, was so upset by Kimmel's comedic jabs that he directed his White House staff to call up one of Disney's top executives in Washington, D.C., to complain and demand action. (ABC, on which Jimmy Kimmel Live! has long aired, is owned by Disney.)
    3. Thomas, Steff Danielle (July 19, 2025). "Trump quips Kimmel 'is next' after CBS axes Colbert's 'Late Show'". The Hill . Retrieved September 21, 2025. President Trump took a swing at ABC's Jimmy Kimmel on Friday following CBS's decision to cancel "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," suggesting he is "next" on the chopping block. / "I absolutely love that Colbert' got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings," Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social, a day after the news broke. "I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!"
    4. Broadwater, Luke (September 19, 2025). "Trump Says Critical Coverage of Him Is 'Really Illegal'" . The New York Times. Retrieved September 21, 2025. Mr. Carr has argued that he can withhold licenses that aren't being used in the public's interest to crack down on speech that doesn't serve local viewers, which includes coverage that is biased against conservatives, a standard that many telecommunications experts and Democrats say is too broad.
    5. Leopold, Jason (February 28, 2025). "The Story Behind FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's Role in Project 2025". Bloomberg News . Retrieved September 21, 2025. Dozens of pages of emails reveal how Brendan Carr, the FCC's Republican chairman and close confidante of President Trump, was cleared by ethics officials to write a chapter in the 922-page manifesto when he was a commissioner.
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    15. Bendix, Trish (September 12, 2025). "Late Night Calls for Bringing the Temperature Down" . The New York Times . Retrieved September 21, 2025. Meyers didn't call out Trump for failing to meet that standard, but Jimmy Kimmel did.
      "And with all these terrible things happening, you would think that our president would at least make an attempt to bring us together, but he didn't. President Obama did, President Biden did, Presidents Bush and Clinton did. President Trump did not. Instead, he blamed Democrats for their rhetoric. The man who told a crowd of supporters that maybe 'the Second Amendment people' should do something about Hillary Clinton. The man who said he wouldn't mind if someone shot through the fake news media. The man who unleashed a mob on the Capitol and said Liz Cheney should 'face nine barrels shooting at her' for supporting his opponent blames the radical left for their rhetoric."
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