Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, said on Monday that he was withdrawing from a town hall on WABC planned for this week, in protest of the decision by the station’s parent company to suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show.
Later on Monday, after the Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, announced that the show would return to the airwaves, Mr. Mamdani said on social media that he was seeking to reschedule the town hall.
The suspension of the show came last week after criticism from the head of the Federal Communications Commission after Mr. Kimmel, a late-night comedian, spoke about the killing of Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist and ally of President Trump.
Mr. Mamdani had announced his withdrawal during remarks at Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park on Roosevelt Island, which honors Roosevelt’s famous speech on human rights, including freedom of speech. He called ABC’s decision to suspend Mr. Kimmel in the face of pressure from the Trump administration an attack on freedom of speech and freedom of expression.
“The message that it sends to each and every American across this country is a message that the First Amendment is no longer a right that can be counted on, but rather that it is government which will determine what should and should not be discussed, what can and cannot be spoken,” Mr. Mamdani said.
In Mr. Mamdani’s social media post, he wrote that Disney had “caved to Trump administration pressure,” but that outrage from millions of Americans had helped sway the company.
“Whether you watch Jimmy Kimmel or not,” Mr. Mamdani wrote, “today’s decision is a victory for free speech.”
Mr. Kirk was fatally shot on Sept. 10 while speaking to students at Utah Valley University. The police have charged Tyler Robinson, 22, with aggravated murder, citing text messages he sent to his romantic partner about Mr. Kirk, in which Mr. Robinson said that he had “had enough of his hatred.”
Mr. Kirk’s derogatory comments about immigrants, Jews, the L.G.B.T.Q. community and Black people were characterized by many as hate speech.
During a monologue last week, Mr. Kimmel said, “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.”
In a statement, Disney officials said that some of Mr. Kimmel’s statements were “ill-timed and thus insensitive,” and that they had suspended the show to “avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country.”
Conservative activists have organized around Mr. Kirk’s killing, and Mr. Trump and others have sought to punish those they feel have spoken disrespectfully about Mr. Kirk. Mr. Trump has invoked his death in an attempt to silence his political opponents and to attack the left.
Mr. Mamdani said on Monday morning that he was canceling his appearance at the town hall in an effort to prevent the right’s response to Mr. Kirk’s death from being normalized, and to “protect the freedoms that we hold so dear.” Mr. Trump and the F.C.C. were seeking to “intimidate the media,” he added.
During his speech, Mr. Mamdani quoted Roosevelt and also linked the suspension of Mr. Kimmel’s show to his signature campaign issue of affordability. The candidate noted that with the show off the air, the people who help produce it, from the writers to the engineers, might no longer have the “ability to afford to live in the city that they call home.” The show is filmed in Los Angeles.
Mr. Mamdani also sought to link two of his opponents, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Mayor Eric Adams, to the Trump administration. Both men, he said, had demonstrated “cowardice” and were “looking to the White House for their path to their future ambitions.”
The New York Times has reported that Mr. Cuomo spoke to Mr. Trump about the mayoral race and told business leaders that he did not “personally” want to fight the president. Mr. Trump’s advisers also floated offering a job to Mr. Adams in an attempt to clear the field for a one-on-one race between Mr. Mamdani and Mr. Cuomo.
Mr. Adams was accused this year of engaging in a quid pro quo with Mr. Trump after the Justice Department abandoned his federal corruption charges in exchange for his help with Mr. Trump’s immigration agenda.
Last week, the mayor said he wanted to reverse a city Education Department policy that allows students to use the bathroom most closely associated with their gender. His remarks came one day after the Trump administration threatened to cut millions of dollars in funding because of the guidelines.
Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for Mr. Cuomo, said Mr. Mamdani was seeking to avoid answering tough questions such as when he would apologize to the New York Police Department for past remarks calling the department racist. Mr. Adams’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jeffery C. Mays is a Times reporter covering politics with a focus on New York City Hall.
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