On Monday night, Jimmy Kimmel delivered an opening monologue on his talk show that addressed the online reaction to the arrest of Tyler Robinson, the primary suspect in the shooting of Charlie Kirk. “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,” he said. His comment was aimed not at Kirk but at the maelstrom of news around Kirk’s death; it speaks ill not of the dead, but of “the MAGA gang.” Less than two days later, Kimmel’s program has been pulled off the air “indefinitely,” according to his network, ABC.
There have already been signs that President Donald Trump’s administration is intent on punishing perceived critics in the media, no matter what complaints about free speech might arise, but the chain of events that shut down Jimmy Kimmel Live feels particularly direct. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Brendan Carr, the Trump-appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said on Benny Johnson’s podcast yesterday. “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.” Within hours, Nexstar, a company that operates 32 of ABC’s 200 local affiliates, said it would not broadcast Kimmel’s show for the “foreseeable future.” Quickly after that, ABC announced its decision.
On Truth Social, Trump called Kimmel’s removal from the air “great news for America.” In a post on X, Carr thanked Nexstar “for doing the right thing” and said, “Local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest. While this may be an unprecedented decision, it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values.” (Disney is the parent company of ABC.) He’s right about this being an unprecedented move. CBS chalked up its recent cancellation of The Late Show—whose host, Stephen Colbert, has been a frequent Trump critic—to financial pressure; plenty of observers cited the legal skirmishes its parent company, Paramount, had with Trump as a potential motivator, however. Either way, Colbert is still on the air and likely won’t depart until his contract is up next year. Kimmel’s show was yanked immediately, and its future is murky.
One assumes there will be widespread debate over the accuracy of Kimmel’s offending comments. That is a distraction from the fundamental assault on free speech that is happening here. Kimmel could easily have addressed his comments on another episode or issued a statement in response to complaints; after all, there have been plenty of minor controversies over the years about quips made on late-night shows. Kimmel, though, is an established entertainer who takes great pleasure in tweaking Trump. Watch his monologue from this past Thursday; it’s loaded with jokes about Trump’s appearance at a 9/11-memorial event.
Of course, mocking the sitting president has long been a cornerstone of pretty much any late-night program throughout the medium’s history. Trump has been the butt of countless jokes over the years. What’s happened to Kimmel is an escalation in every way, a chilling precedent that could have further consequences if it isn’t swiftly undone. How Kimmel himself reacts to the situation will be important—he’s a major celebrity, a multi-time emcee of the Academy Awards who’s been hosting TV shows since the 1990s. There’s a chance network television could become even more reticent to broadcast anything remotely provocative, which in turn could also inspire blowback from their audiences.
The reaction of Kimmel’s peers is just as vital. Colbert is still telling Trump jokes on his show; meanwhile, Seth Meyers, the host of NBC’s Late Night, is another prominent Trump detractor. But Meyers’s lead-in is Jimmy Fallon at The Tonight Show, who tends to occupy a more politically anodyne space. If they and others challenge Kimmel’s suspension, that response could balloon into a stronger movement against government interference. But if Trump had his way, Meyers and Fallon would be pushed out, too. “That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC,” he said on Truth Social. “Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!”
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