Jimmy Kimmel pulled after FCC threats. It’s terrifying

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr threatened ABC’s broadcast license over a Jimmy Kimmel monologue about Charlie Kirk.
Carr suggested Kimmel could be suspended for his comments.
Carr celebrated other actions against media figures and outlets critical of the Trump administration.

In a stunning move, ABC announced Wednesday, Sept. 17 that it was taking “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air indefinitely, after FCC chairman Brendan Carr threatened Kimmel and the network on a podcast over comments Kimmel made about the man charged with shooting Charlie Kirk.

In a year of gutless moves by major media companies, this may be the most gutless. ABC should be ashamed.

Earlier Wednesday, Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, threatened ABC, Disney and Jimmy Kimmel over a Kimmel monologue that included comments about Charlie Kirk, ominously saying, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

A quick reminder that Carr is the chairman of the FCC, not a mob boss in a third-rate gangster movie. It’s another example of Donald Trump’s administration’s threats to free speech, or at least free speech that doesn’t praise Trump. Anything the president doesn’t agree with or takes offense to, you’re all out of luck.

Which is the opposite of how free speech works.

Trump celebrated Kimmel’s suspension

Trump celebrated the news, of course.

“Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED,” he posted on Truth Social. “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!!! President DJT”

Brendan Carr’s threats to Jimmy Kimmel should terrify you

If Carr’s threats, made to Benny Johnson on Johnson’s YouTube show on Wednesday, Sept. 17, don’t scare you, they absolutely should.

ABC’s actions should terrify you.

In Kimmel’s monologue on Tuesday night, he addressed Charlie Kirk’s murder and the way some Republicans were seeking to portray the suspect, Tyler Robinson.

“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,” Kimmel said, before pivoting to a segment where a reporter asked Trump how he was holding up, and he responded, in part, by bragging about White House construction.

Conservatives criticized Kimmel for saying that Robinson was MAGA, or at least somehow affiliated with the movement. But, at least in my interpretation, that’s not what he said. And, despite rumors and online assertions, authorities have not confirmed a motive for the shooting.

Regardless, Kimmel hosts an entertainment show, not a news show. (It’s worth noting that Kimmel, on the day Kirk was killed, called for a taking down of the temperature right away.)

Carr sees it differently, calling the monologue “what appears to be an action by Jimmy Kimmel to play into that narrative that this was somehow a MAGA or Republican-motivated person. If that’s what happened here, with his conduct, that is really, really sick. … It appears to be some of the sickest conduct possible.”

Carr threatened Kimmel and ABC caved

Johnson asked Carr what remedies could be sought. Again, his answer was chilling.

“There’s calls for Kimmel to be fired,” Carr said. “I think you could certainly see a path forward for suspension over this.”

Evidently.

Let’s just state this plainly: This was a threat to suspend a late-night host because he said something the Trump administration didn’t like. That is wildly out of bounds. It’s not how democracies work. It’s not responsible governing. It’s bullying. It’s certainly not how free speech works.

But the Trump administration has been having some trouble with that lately.

Even conservatives criticized Pam Bondi

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, appearing on a podcast hosted by Katie Miller, the wife of Trump advisor Stephen Miller, said, “There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech, and there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society,” then adding, “We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.”

Except you can’t do that.

Even conservatives went after Bondi for evidently not knowing hate speech is protected by the First Amendment, or not caring. (She’s since tried to walk the comments back.)

You know who else disagreed? Charlie Kirk, who tweeted this in May of 2024: “Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech. And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment. Keep America free.”

When Jonathan Karl of ABC News asked Trump about Bondi’s comments, Trump didn’t exactly take the high road.

“She’d probably go after people like you, because you treat me so unfairly. It’s hate! You have a lot of hate in your heart. Maybe they’ll come after ABC. Well, ABC paid me $16 million recently for a form of hate speech, right? Your company paid me $16 million for a form of hate speech, so maybe they’ll have to go after you.”

Ah, there is that.

ABC folded under Trump’s pressure before

ABC News settled a Trump lawsuit in 2024. Trump had sued for defamation after anchor George Stephanopoulos said on air that Trump had been found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll; Trump was found guilty of sexually abusing and defaming Carroll. Many legal experts believed ABC News had a good case.

But they settled. And now they have buckled under pressure from Trump yet again. What a disgrace.

Neither Kimmel nor ABC responded to requests for comments.

Carr bragged about CBS canceling Stephen Colbert

Even more galling, Carr bragged about the actions Trump has taken against traditional media companies since he’s been in office, bragging that NPR and PBS had been defunded, that ABC fired Terry Moran, that CBS is canceling Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show” in 2026 (which owner Paramount claimed was a financial decision), that Joy Reid was gone from MSNBC.

Carr thinks he’s boasting about Trump victories. What he’s really doing is going down a laundry list of assaults on dissent and free speech.

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(This story was updated to add new information.)

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