ABC’s decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel’s show indefinitely drew praise from President Donald Trump and criticism from those who call it an attempt to silence speech.
During a monologue this week on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" 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."
Kimmel then played a clip of the president answering a reporter’s question about how he was holding up.
"I think very good," President Trump told the reporter. "And by the way, right there, you see all the trucks. They just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they've been trying to get, as you know, for about 150 years, and it's going to be a beauty."
By Wednesday afternoon, Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr was threatening to take action.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead," Carr said on The Benny Show, a podcast hosted by conservative commentator Benny Johnson.
Within hours, two local media companies — Nexstar and Sinclair — announced they would not air Kimmel's show on their ABC-affiliated stations. Statements from the companies called his comments offensive, inappropriate and insensitive. In a separate post, Sinclair also called for Kimmel to make a personal donation to the Kirk family and Turning Point USA.
Facing the loss of distribution and the criticism, ABC followed suit, pre-empting Kimmel's show on all ABC stations indefinitely, including those owned by Scripps News Group's parent company, The E.W. Scripps Company.
President Trump applauded ABC's decision on social media, saying the network had "the courage to do what had to be done."
The president has long complained about late-night TV hosts.
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Last month in the Oval Office, President Trump was commenting on Stephen Colbert's show coming to an end next year and he said, "Fallon has no talent. Kimmel has no talent. They're next. They're going to be going. I hear they're going to be going."
President Trump has targeted media companies not just with words, but with lawsuits. In the past few months, he's filed defamation lawsuits against The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Earlier lawsuits he filed against ABC News and CBS News resulted in multimillion-dollar settlements, and ABC News issued an apology.
The administration has also restricted White House access for news outlets viewed as hostile, like The Associated Press, which uses the name "Gulf of Mexico" instead of "Gulf of America."
Top Democrats in Congress and organizations like the ACLU say the president is trying to stifle free speech. However, the president and his allies say they are fighting back against corrupt and dishonest coverage.
