ABC News star George Stephanopoulos took a subtle swipe at President Donald Trump for pressuring his network’s parent company to pull late-night host Jimmy Kimmel from the air indefinitely.
Stephanopoulos, 64, said on Good Morning America that a threat to rescind ABC’s broadcasting license was “the latest in a series of moves against the independent media from President Trump and his appointees.”
The host, once at the center of a defamation lawsuit involving the president himself, did not elaborate much further on the controversial decision. He opened his segment on Thursday by reciting the news about Jimmy Kimmel Live! being put on pause.
“Breaking news involving our parent company, Disney, and ABC, which pulled Jimmy Kimmel from the air overnight, hours after a threat to the network from the head of the Federal Communications Commission appointed by President Trump,” he said, reading from a teleprompter. “The move has drawn a sharply polarized response.”
Trump reached a $16 million settlement with ABC in December over remarks made on air by Stephanopoulos. Trump was then awarded the same amount in July as part of a settlement in a lawsuit against Paramount, regarding the editing of a Kamala Harris interview on 60 Minutes last year.
Critics have accused Paramount and ABC of settling a lawsuit they were likely to win to avoid conflict with the president. After Paramount’s lawsuit was settled, the FCC signed off on a merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media.
The White House and ABC did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Backlash at Kimmel stemmed from remarks he made on his show Monday about last week’s assassination of the right-wing commentator 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,” Kimmel said. “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving. On Friday, the White House flew the flags at half-staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level, you can see how hard the president is taking this.”
The broadcast then cut to a clip of Trump being asked how he was “holding up” after Kirk’s murder, to which the president responded: “I think very good, and by the way, right there where you see all the trucks, they just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House… It’s going to be a beauty.”
The camera then returned to Kimmel, who said, “Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief, construction. Demolition, construction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of somebody he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish.”
Sources told Rolling Stone that ABC executives were “p—ing themselves” in the aftermath of the Kimmel segment, which received significant blowback from some of the top names in MAGA. The report stated that multiple executives believed Kimmel “had not actually said anything over the line,” but ultimately pulled Kimmel from the area due to fears that the FCC would revoke its broadcasting license.
Those fears were not unfounded. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who Trump appointed on Inauguration Day, threatened to withdraw ABC’s broadcasting license during a Wednesday interview with conservative YouTuber Benny Johnson.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said on the show. “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.”
Nexstar, which owns ABC affiliate stations across the country, pulled the plug on Jimmy Kimmel Live! shortly after, releasing a statement that condemned the late-night host’s comments.
Much of MAGA, including Trump, celebrated the development.
“Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible.”
The post ABC Star Slams Kimmel Shutdown as ‘Latest’ Trump ‘Attack’ Against Media appeared first on The Daily Beast.
