From September 17 through September 22, 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 conservative activist and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
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 the American people 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.
U.S. President Donald Trump has frequently attacked the mainstream mass media in the United States, claiming it has a liberal bias and is "corrupt". He has also sued various media outlets for perceived inaccuracies or biases (structured in the form of SLAPP litigation designed to extract financial and editorial concessions), 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. [1] [2] In 2015, when running for the presidency, Trump cancelled an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, citing a prior obligation. [3]
After failing to advance budget measures to eliminate federal funding for public broadcasting during his first administration, Trump requested a rescission bill (the Rescissions Act of 2025) to eliminate federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which passed in both chambers of the Republican-controlled Congress largely along party lines in July 2025, [a] 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 public television and radio stations imposing staffing and programming cuts (with some electing to drop PBS and/or NPR programming altogether). [b]
In his personal policies platform for the 2024 campaign, Agenda 47, President Trump promised to "shatter the left-wing censorship regime". [c] In his 2025 inaugural address, he promised: "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." [4] [d] On the same day, he signed the Executive Order 14149, "Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship", which purportedly aimed to prohibit government infringement of American citizens' protected speech rights. [5] During his first term, he tried to have Kimmel censored by Disney, [e] and after the July 2025 cancellation of CBS' The Late Show with Stephen Colbert , he quipped that Kimmel was next. [6] [f]
Dating to November 2024, when he was being considered for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairmanship following Trump's reelection to a non-consecutive second term, Brendan Carr (who was first appointed by Trump to the agency's Board of Commissioners in August 2017) 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. [7]
Carr authored the FCC chapter of the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 conservative policy platform, in which he argued for—among other issues—deregulation of broadcast media; restricting social media platforms' Section 230 immunity from liability for third-party content (under a longstanding interpretation of the law by conservatives that incorrectly claims it gives platforms authority to censor online speech); requiring transparency from platforms about changes to recommendation algorithms and their decisions to block or demonetize users; and calling for ban of the social video platform TikTok (contradictory to Trump's pledge during his 2024 presidential campaign), amid public criticism from TikTok users toward the Biden administration and Congress over the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, a federal "divest-or-ban" law targeting the platform, to secure an American buyer) due to alleged national security risks because of its ownership by Chinese parent ByteDance. [8] [g]
After the suspension, social media users found previous comments made public by Carr that were contrary to his stated reasons for pressuring the suspension of Kimmel, which argued against government intervention in regulating non-obscene broadcast material and against restricting access to content based on ideological views expressed by certain outlets. In 2019, Carr stated: "The FCC does not have a roving mandate to police speech in the name of the 'public interest.'" [10] 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." [10]
Jimmy Kimmel began hosting his ABC late-night talk show in January 2003; incidentally, Jimmy Kimmel Live! was created as a permanent replacement for Politically Incorrect , which ABC canceled in June 2002 following widespread condemnation and advertiser boycotts over host Bill Maher's comments during the political panel talk show's first new episode after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks suggesting that the perpetrators were not cowards (contravening remarks made by then-President George W. Bush the day prior to the broadcast), whereas "[American leaders had] been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away". [11] [h] On his part, Kimmel has been a relentless critic of President Trump since his first term, [12] [i] declaring, "One of the most fun parts of my job is knowing that he hates being made fun of, and making fun of him", [j] culminating with Kimmel reading and mocking a Truth Social post by then-presumptive Republican presidential nominee Trump at the closing of the 96th Academy Awards ceremony. [13] [14] [k] 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. [l]
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; [15] [16] [m] 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 statistical evidence that most acts of political violence in the United States are perpetrated by right-wing extremists. [17] [n] 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." [18] [19] 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 Bush had done. [18] [19]
In his September 15, 2025, opening monologue, Kimmel said about the reaction from conservatives to the Charlie Kirk 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" and reacting to Trump's response to Kirk's death by stating that "Yes, he's at the fourth stage of grief: construction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend." [20] [21] 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". [22] 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. [21] [23] [24] 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". [25] 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. [26] [27] Subsequently, outrage stoked by social media influencers and right-wing media began to grow about Kimmel's "MAGA gang" comment. [26] During this broadcast, Kimmel also directed criticism at people aligned with Trump, claiming that "Many in 'MAGA land' are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk," specifically taking aim at people such as U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Trump's son Eric Trump, stating, among other things, that "Yesterday, JD Vance, who himself famously called Donald Trump 'America's Hitler,' hosted the Charlie Kirk podcast from the White House, where he pointed his little mascara-stained finger directly at the left." [20]
On September 17, 2025, during an interview on conservative commentator Benny Johnson's podcast, 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." [10] 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." [21] [28] [29] 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; [30] however, the FCC's authority in regulating broadcast content is largely limited to obscene material (including graphic profanity, nudity, explicit sexual content and excessive violence), advertising during children's programs (including restrictions on product cross-promotion with 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." [9] 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. [9] [o]
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. [31] 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. [p] 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 programming, including his show. [q] 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", [33] 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. [34] [35] [r]
Shortly afterward, ABC announced that Jimmy Kimmel Live! would be suspended indefinitely, [30] [36] [37] a decision that was made by Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger and Disney Entertainment co-chair Dana Walden. [21] [38] 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". [21] [39] According to unnamed Hollywood Reporter sources, Kimmel felt that what he said did not require an apology, [40] and intended to defend his remark, with a source saying that it had been "grossly mischaracterized by a certain group of people". [38] 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. [41] Variety observed that the suspension came 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. [42] [43]
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), [s] while Nexstar and Sinclair were among the station owners that had been lobbying the FCC to revise its broadcast ownership rules, including the proposed elimination of a rule passed in 2004—which would require Congressional approval to modify or repeal—that limits broadcasting companies from owning or controlling local television stations cumulatively reaching more than 39% of U.S. households. [44] [45] [t] Separately, Disney is seeking approval 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), which would require federal approval from the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). [46] [u]
ABC scheduled reruns of Celebrity Family Feud in Kimmel's 11:35 p.m. ET/PT timeslot through at least September 19. [47] [48] Some affiliates (mostly Hearst Television and Nexstar stations) initially opted to run expanded editions of their late-evening newscasts and other local programming in the slot instead. Sinclair 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. [34] [49] [50] Jimmy Kimmel Live! crew members will be paid through the week of September 20, while discussions continue on whether to bring the show back on the air, with Disney reportedly "hopeful" that it can come to a resolution with Kimmel. [51] [52]
On September 22, 2025, Disney announced that Kimmel's suspension was being lifted, and the show would return beginning September 23. At the time of the announcement, it was not known if Nexstar-owned ABC stations will resume broadcasting the show. [53] Sinclair announced that they would pre-empt Kimmel's September 23 episode on their ABC affiliates, but said "discussions with ABC are ongoing". [54]
"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!!!" [55]
President 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 , was cancelled on July 17 and will end after the 2025–26 television season), [v] and calling on NBC to fire both Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon and Late Night host Seth Meyers. [55] In subsequent days, Trump made several remarks reiterating support for punitive regulatory actions 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", [56] that critical coverage of him was "illegal", [57] [58] and that "dishonesty" would be grounds for broadcast outlets to have their licenses revoked. [59] Trump praised FCC chairman Brendan Carr, calling him "outstanding" and a "tough guy" who "loves our country." [60] 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". [61]
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 (which faced criticism for not discussing the Kimmel suspension in the days immediately following the controversy) 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 and its hosts (which include Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former communications director and assistant during the first Trump administration, and Ana Navarro, a former Republican political strategist) being of similar ideological variation; 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". [62] [63] FCC Commissioner Anna M. 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. [30]
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. [64] Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer also called for Carr's resignation, [65] and along with ten Senate Democrats, wrote a letter to Carr criticizing his comments and demanding answers to questions about their implications for broadcasters. [66] 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". [67]
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". [68] 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 Oversight Committee chair James Comer to secure Carr's testimony before the committee. [68] 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". [69] Illinois Governor JB 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." [70]
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". [71]
Republican senators Ted Cruz, Dave McCormick, Thom Tillis, Jerry Moran, and Lisa Murkowski, alongside U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Brett Guthrie, criticized or expressed concern about Carr's comments. [72] [66] 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.'" [73] 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. [73] [74] Republican 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". [75]
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. [76] [77] 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. [78] [79]
Fellow late-night hosts Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, Bill Maher, and John Oliver, [80] [81] as well as former hosts David Letterman, Jay Leno, [82] and Conan O'Brien, [83] expressed support for Kimmel. [84] On September 18, several late-night hosts discussed the suspension and spoke in support of Kimmel on their respective shows. [45] Colbert revived his former 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. Meyers addressed the situation during the recurring segment "A Closer Look", sarcastically praising Trump. [85] [86] [87] Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner expressed support for Kimmel and criticized the FCC for intimidating ABC and Disney. [88]
Conservative commentators had mixed opinions on Kimmel's suspension, with most agreeing with ABC's decision. Fox News host Greg Gutfeld said on the September 17 episode of his talk show Gutfeld! that he was not upset by the suspension and his guests (which included Drew Pinsky, who came to know Kimmel when they both worked at Los Angeles radio station KROQ in the 1990s) held that there were limits to free speech on network TV. [87] Piers Morgan claimed Kimmel's remarks had caused "understandable outrage all over America" and questioned why he was "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". [87] [89] [90] Candace Owens (who once served as communications director of Kirk's organization Turning Point USA) 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". [91]
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". [92]
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". [93] [w] 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. [94]
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 ; several of the musicians featured in the Hulu documentary who were also scheduled to perform at the event, including Sarah McLachlan and Jewel, reportedly decided to cancel their appearances as a result of the Kimmel suspension controversy. [95] [96] [97]
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. [98] [x] 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". [29] [y]
In addition to protests by entertainment unions, civilian protests had taken place outside of Disney's offices and studios in Los Angeles, Burbank [99] and New York, [52] 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. [79] [100] [101] Shortly after initial calls for a boycott Disney shares dipped 0.67% which some have attributed to the boycott, however analysists have indicated it may be normal market fluctuation. [102]
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. [103] [z] 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". [aa]
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." [104] [105] 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 becoming a climate change denier by saying that living snowman Olaf is proof that climate change is not real. The piece showed fictional upcoming Disney titles like High School Musical Shooting , JD Vance Live!, The Lying King , and Brendan Carrs . [104] [105] [ab]
This event caused discussion about the possibility of a violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. [106] 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." [107] 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." [108]
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, [109] with interviews with Jake Tapper and David Remnick. [110] [111] [ac] Tapper attributed the situation to money interests influencing corporations' decisions above principles, [112] 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." [113] [ad]
In The New York Times , Damien Cave 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. [2] Citing scholars about the democratic backsliding in Hungary, Brian Stelter wrote of Kimmel's suspension, "That's how Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán consolidated control of the media in his country ... President Trump and his allies appear to be running the same playbook against media outlets in the US." [114]
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.)
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!'
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.
Jimmy Kimmel and former President Trump have been engaged in a years-long feud. The late-night host frequently pokes fun at the former president, who targets him on social media.
Kimmel said that he's prepared for how another Trump administration would impact late-night television, but he's 'more worried about the country than my monologues.' 'I just cannot believe that anyone thinks it would be a good idea to put him back in the White House,' Kimmel said. Despite his strong opinions about Trump, Kimmel told CNN he'd like to have a conversation with him on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!'
Those who live in China, India, Iran, Russia, Turkey and Venezuela are familiar with this scenario. Each is governed with various levels of authoritarianism; all have seen comedians, broadcasters, journalists and cartoonists squeezed toward silence. Now, President Trump, with his threat on Thursday to revoke broadcasting licenses from networks with late-night hosts who make jokes or comments at his expense, has pushed the United States closer to that club. With lawsuits against media companies, cuts to public broadcasting, and threats to rescind licenses or deny mergers while rewarding friendlier outlets, Mr. Trump's tactics fit a disturbing global pattern.
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.
... Since Trump's election, Carr has gone on the attack, threatening broadcasters with enforcement actions and investigations for perceived slights against Trump and the MAGA movement. He also has an active presence on social media, and is unafraid to make his rooting interests known: Carr initially reacted to the news of ABC's Kimmel show suspension with a celebratory dancing GIF from 'The Office.' On Thursday morning, he wrote on X that he was 'glad to see that many broadcasters are responding to their viewers as intended.'
Most of the comedy shows addressed Kirk's fatal shooting on September 11, whether it be in the official monologue or a separate clip. The sole exception is Jimmy Fallon, of The Tonight Show, who has not yet discussed the shooting or the response.
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.'
Deadline understands that the ABC show sent a note out to staff to inform them on the move as talks between the company and Kimmel continue.
The internet was already lighting up with users sharing screenshots of canceled subscriptions to Disney-owned streaming services or canceled vacations at Disney properties. Protestors have also appeared outside the corporate headquarters in Burbank, Calif., while angry Disney+ and Hulu users have flooded social media accounts and customer service pages.
Late night TV host Jimmy Kimmel's suspension is provoking several questions about the First Amendment, the right to free speech and what this controversy might mean for the future.