Trump applauds comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension and renewal call for punishment for broadcasters

U.S. President Donald Trump celebrated the pause of talk show host Jimmy Kimmel and said TV broadcasters should lose their licenses due to negative coverage of their administration, adding fuel to the nationwide free speech debate.

Kimmel has been caught in the efforts of Trump and his supporters to punish Charlie Kirk, a right-wing activist who criticized the assassinated, who was shot dead from a distance while talking to a crowd at the University of Utah on September 10. Since then, Trump and Kirk’s allies have warned Americans, warning of split images or facing split characters or facing consequences.

Broadcasting company ABC announced Wednesday that it pulled up the late night comedy show “Jimmy Kimmel Live” indefinitely. Writer, performer, former U.S. President Barack Obama and others have condemned Kimmel’s suspension, saying it was unconstitutional government pressure.

The U.S. debate was in a debate between Trump and Britain on Thursday, when he said Kimmel was punished for saying “a terrible thing” to Kirk.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has used his office and court to launch unflattering speeches about what he calls defamatory or false statements. In both of his terms, Trump threatened to revoke the license of the local broadcasting branch of the state network – a license approved by the nominally independent regulator, the Federal Communications Commission.

Kimmel’s suspension comes after the local TV station owner said it would stop broadcasting his celebrity late-night performances, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr threatened to investigate Kimmel’s comments on Kirk.

Trump, who was back in the U.S., talked to reporters on Air Force One, complained about receiving bad publicity from the broadcaster, said: “It’s something to get permission. … All they did was hit Trump.”

“I think maybe their license should be cancelled,” Trump said. “It depends on Brendan Carr.”

Comedian Kimmel said in his nine-minute opening monologue on Monday that Kirk said last week’s allies were “scoring political scores.” Kirk, 31, was shot on stage after he made his political views during an event organized by his pro-Trump advocacy group Turning Point USA.

A 22-year-old technical college student from Utah was charged with Kirk’s murder on Tuesday.

“We had some new lows over the weekend, and the Margo Gang desperately tried to murder the child with anything that was one of them and did everything possible to get political points from it,” Kimmel said.

Trump retorted that Kimmel was not active and had a bad rating, “said a horrible thing to a great gentleman named Charlie Kirk.”

“So, you know, you can call it free speech,” Trump said as he stood with Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “He was fired for lack of talent.” ABC has not said it fired Kimmel, who has yet to comment on his evacuation from the air.

Late night shows and traditional TV in general have dropped ratings as viewers turn to streaming and social media. According to Nelson, “Jimmy Kimmel’s Live” ended in the TV season in May, an average of 1.57 million viewers per episode.

The week since Kirk’s murder, Kimmel is the most famous American, facing a professional counterattack in response to conservative comments condemning Kirk, as well as media figures, academic workers, teachers and company employees.

Notable Democrats say Trump is attacking the right to freedom of speech guaranteed in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Republicans say they are fighting “hate speech” that could be trapped in violence and accused some Kirk critics of trying to prove his murder.

Obama joins the Critics Choir

Obama urges media companies not to succumb to government coercion.
“After years of complaints about cancel culture, the current administration takes it to a new and dangerous level through conventional threats to regulate media companies, unless they don’t like muzzle or fire reporters and commentators,” Obama said in a statement.

Writers and actors union say Kimmel’s unconstitutional attack on disagreeing with rights. The American Civil Liberties Union said the Trump administration “silences critics and controls what American people watch and read.”

Kirk’s death inspired grief among fans who believed he was a staunch advocate of open debate and conservative values. Others challenge or ridicule Kirk’s support for right-wing politics and Christian nationalism and his derogatory comments about immigrants, African Americans, leftists and transgender people.

Hours before Kimmel’s suspension on Wednesday, Carr urged local broadcasters to stop playing the show.

Following Carr’s comments on the Benny Johnson podcast, the two largest owners of the local broadcaster – Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcasting Group, both of which had merged deals before the FCC – then announced that they would respond with Kimmel’s other shows in response to Monday’s monologue.

ABC, owned by Walt Disney, announced it will suspend Kimmel’s performances indefinitely. ABC owns eight FCC-licensed local TV channels, including broadcasters in major markets in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Chicago, Houston and Philadelphia.

Disney CEO Bob Iger and Disney Entertainment co-chair Dana Walden decided to suspend Kimmel’s performance, a source who knows about the matter. – Reuters