Democrats on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform announced an investigation into the cancellation of the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show over the host’s comments about the suspect in the Charlie Kirk assassination.
Kimmel suggested that Tyler Robinson was a supporter of the “Make America Great Again” movement in the opening monologue of his show on Monday. By Wednesday, the ABC television network announced it would pull the show indefinitely after Nexstar Media Group said it was pre-empting the show on stations it owned.
‘Late-night talk show hosts should be able to speak freely and give their opinions. The free press is under attack.’
Democrats and other critics of President Donald Trump have since claimed that Kimmel’s firing was politically motivated and point to comments from the head of the Federal Communications Commission against Kimmel.
On Thursday, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the top Democrat of the Oversight Committee, announced the investigation.
“We must condemn all political violence,” he wrote on social media. “But recent threats from this Administration are an attack on the media and the First Amendment. Late-night talk show hosts should be able to speak freely and give their opinions. The free press is under attack.”
Garcia sent letters to ABC as well as FCC Chairman Brendan Carr about the investigation.
Critics claim that Kimmel made the comments in the context of a joke and defended him on that basis.
“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 in the monologue.
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Photo by Disney/Michael Le Brecht) JIMMY KIMMEL
Garcia’s letter to Carr quoted him as threatening the companies with government action if they did not do something with Kimmel.
“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,” he said.
Garcia accused the administration of trampling on Kimmel’s free speech rights.
“When a government targets comedians, it’s not just comedy that’s under attack. It’s democracy,” Garcia added on social media.
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