The White House slammed former President Barack Obama Saturday for suggesting the Trump administration played a role in ABC’s decision to tank Jimmy Kimmel off the air.
Obama accused the Trump administration of taking “cancel culture” to a “new and dangerous level” in an X post Thursday, that included a Vox article in which the lefty outlet charged that Kimmel was yanked because Trump “didn’t like what he had to say.”
“With all due respect to former President Obama, he has no idea what he is talking about,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an interview with Fox News’ “Saturday in America.”
“The decision to fire Jimmy Kimmel and to cancel his show came from executives at ABC. That has now been reported,” the White House official continued.
The network put Kimmel’s late-night program on an indefinite hiatus Wednesday after the comedian suggested earlier in the week that conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassin was a MAGA supporter.
ABC announced Kimmel’s suspension after local broadcaster Nexstar, which airs Kimmel’s show on its independently-owned TV stations, said it would pre-empt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in response to the comedian’s comments about the Kirk assassination.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr noted in an interview with conservative podcaster Benny Johnson – hours before ABC and Nexstar’s announcement – that Kimmel’s remarks may have run afoul of FCC rules requiring licensed broadcasters to operate “in the public interest.”
Leavitt noted that Trump was overseas when ABC pulled Kimmel from the airwaves and said the commander in chief had “no idea” the network was planning to put the late-night show on hold.
“I can assure you it did not come from the White House and there was no pressure given from the president of the United States. How do I know that? Because I was with the president of the United States when this news broke in the United Kingdom,” she said.
“We were enjoying the beautiful and spectacular state visit that was put forth by the Royal Family and the prime minister of the UK, Keir Starmer,” Leavitt continued. “And I actually brought this news to President Trump’s attention, he had no idea this was happening.”
“It was a decision that was made by ABC because Jimmy Kimmel chose to knowingly lie to his audience on his program about the death of a highly-respected man when our country is in a state of mourning.”
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