Victoria Davis '28
“The MAGA (Make America Great Again) gang [is] 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,” comedian and television host Jimmy Kimmel stated in his late-night Monday monologue on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday, September 15. Exactly 39 hours later, his show was suspended.
Late-night show hosts have been anything but shy about criticizing President Donald Trump and his supporters, and as a result, have been the targets of political censorship, including threats to their jobs and their broadcasting platform’s licenses. Jimmy Kimmel, along with hosts Seth Meyers and, most notably, Steven Colbert, have openly spoken out about certain Trump administration policies, which have resulted in the revocation of TV network licenses and the cancellation of their shows for others. Sparked by the murder of Turning Point founder and conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Kimmel dedicated the main focus of the monologue to challenging the narcissism within party lines. He particularly criticized the Republicans’ attempts to portray the murderer, Tyler Robinson, who was registered as non-partisan or unaffiliated and was raised in a majority conservative household, as a liberal. He opened by sharing a tweet from Trump’s official X account amidst the chaos of the assassination, where he jokingly criticized Trump’s untimely anger towards the NFL’s football playing as damaging to the US, the January attempt at banning TikTok, and the US’s relation to the Chinese Government. He went on to air a clip that made light of “how hard Trump [was] taking [the death].” The reporter in the video offered condolences for “the loss of [his] friend” and asked how he’s holding up, to which Trump responded on an unrelated note, “I’m doing very good…we just started construction for the new ballroom of the White House.” “He’s at the fourth stage of grief – construction,” Kimmel said.
Shortly after his comments were made, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, who was nominated by Trump, threatened federal action against American Broadcasting Company (ABC) affiliates and stations that carried the Jimmy Kimmel Live! Show. This prompted ABC News, which is owned by Disney, to suspend his show indefinitely, not long after. Trump praised ABC News for shutting down Kimmel’s show, stating that his cancellation was “great news for America.” He also encouraged NBC (National Broadcasting Company) to fire both Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon – both known for challenging Trump’s actions – calling them “two total losers.” Only two months prior, Trump had celebrated the shutdown of Steven Colbert’s show The Late Show, who commonly satirized Trump’s actions.
Disney claims the show was pulled due to “ill-timed and thus insensitive” language, while simultaneously hoping to foster “thoughtful conversations” with its return, according to BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation). Public response to the suspension was quick and extremely critical of ABC’s decision. Many viewers saw the suspension as an overreaction and evidence that the network was giving in to political pressure. Only a week later, after facing lots of backlash, on September 23, Jimmy Kimmel Live! was reinstated. One major factor for its reinstatement was that Disney lost more than 1.7 million subscribers on Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN, who cancelled memberships in protest to the shutdown, according to the New York Post.
On September 30, Kimmel and Colbert appeared as guest speakers on each other’s shows and exchanged stories about how their shows had both been canceled. They both joked about Trump’s efforts at silencing their media spheres and their influence. This prompted discussions about the potential of violating free speech when cancelling media, specifically in talk show television. When Trump found out that ABC News had unsuspended the show, he “[couldn’t] believe that ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back.” He expressed disdain for the host and the network, threatening monetary action and claiming that Kimmel “puts the Network in jeopardy.” Today, the greater population absorbs much of their news through online and video media from platforms such as ABC News, and there are now concerns regarding First Amendment rights to free speech and the press. Instances such as Kimmel’s suspension illustrate the increasing political tension in regards to media freedom and raise questions about what the future will look like.