Following the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show after outrage over his comments on Charlie Kirk’s death, US President Donald Trump has issued a warning against TV networks that oppose him.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Trump has suggested that the FCC licences of the broadcast stations should be taken away if they air exceedingly negative coverage of or commentary about him. Per the New York Times, the US President told reporters aboard Air Force One, “I have read someplace that the networks were 97 percent against me, I get 97 percent negative, and yet I won and easily.”
He later added, “I would think maybe their license should be taken away.”
Labelling the broadcast networks as “an arm of the Democrat party” that wants to sabotage his career, Trump’s statement is perceived as an attack on free speech.
The recent escalation in scrutinising the political news about the president stemmed from the comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s comments on Charlie Kirk’s death. As per the reports, the 57-year-old American comedian ridiculed MAGA republicans (a reference to Trump supporters) and accused them of stepping away from their affiliations with the alleged assassin of Kirk, Tyler Robinson.
On his show Monday night, 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.”
According to the BBC, Kimmel had also drawn a parallel between Trump’s reaction to the death of the 31-year-old right-wing activist to “how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.”
Kimmel’s comments raised eyebrows of the Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, as reported by THR. Condemning the comedian’s material, Carr warned of consequences about possibly revoking ABC affiliate licenses if they carried forward with the show.
Carr said, “[This] appears to be an action by Jimmy Kimmel to play into the narrative that this was somehow a MAGA or Republican-motivated person. What people don’t understand is that the broadcasters…have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest. When we see stuff like this, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Owing to the escalating seriousness of the matter, ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! indefinitely. BBC reports that the suspension was carried forward in the wake of Nexstar Media, one of America’s largest TV station owners, announcing that it would not be broadcasting Kimmel’s show “for the foreseeable future” since his remarks were “offensive and insensitive.”
The stern decision to pull the show was made by CEO Bob Iger and co-chairman of Disney Entertainment Dana Walden.
Despite their swift response, Carr further suggested that the agency critically examine other shows like The View. However, Anna Gomez, who is reportedly the lone Democratic commissioner on the FCC, said that the agency doesn’t “have the ability to actually take these actions” based on content.
While attending the Axios‘ Media Trends summit on Thursday, she said, “I see this as a part of this administration’s campaign of censorship and control, and what it’s doing is it’s weaponizing its licensing authority in order to bring broadcasters to heel and to really think twice about what they say about this administration. It’s not because of the content of these broadcasts, whether it’s the Jimmy Kimmel show or CBS, are actually inciting violence or breaking the law. All it’s doing is speaking about this administration in a way that it does not like, which is contrary to the First Amendment. It’s contrary to the Communications Act.”
The immediate suspension of the show has raised a lot of concerns, especially from other talk show hosts. According to the BBC, when Stephen Colbert arrived on his rival CBS show, he had berated the action as “blatant censorship.” He said, “With an autocrat, you can’t give an inch.”
Not only that, but former US President Barack Obama decried Trump’s actions as a “dangerous” attack on free speech. He said that the Trump administration had exacerbated cancel culture, taking it to a “new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.”
Speaking to the BBC about dealing with the aftermath of the decision, Joe Strazullo, a former Jimmy Kimmel Live! writer confided that there is an atmosphere of fear in the writers’ room. He said, “It’s heartbreaking to see the threat of them being out of work. Nobody knows exactly what’s going on still, and they’re working things out behind the scenes.”