ABC has suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! indefinitely after comments the host made about the killing of Charlie Kirk led several affiliated stations to refuse to air the programme. The decision came hours after Brendan Carr, the Trump-appointed chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), threatened the licences of ABC’s affiliate stations.
Carr defended the action taken by station owners Nexstar and Sinclair, describing it as “unprecedented”. He accused late-night hosts, including Kimmel, of moving from “court jesters” to “court clerics enforcing a very narrow political ideology”. Sinclair indicated that Kimmel could return if he issued a direct apology to the Kirk family and made a “meaningful personal donation” to Kirk’s organisation, Turning Point USA.
Anna Gomez, the only Democratic FCC commissioner, criticised Carr’s remarks, stating that political violence should not be used as “justification for broader censorship or control”. She added that the administration was increasingly using government power “to suppress lawful expression”. Former president Barack Obama also condemned the suspension, linking it to the Trump administration’s use of regulatory threats against media companies that criticise the president.
The Producers Guild of America described free speech as “the lifeblood of our industry” and said critical voices must not be silenced. The Writers Guild of America called the suspension a violation of constitutional free speech rights. Several Democratic politicians, including California governor Gavin Newsom and Illinois governor JB Pritzker, accused the Trump administration of censoring critics, with Newsom saying Republicans are “censoring you in real time”.
Senator Chris Murphy suggested the move was part of a broader campaign to use the killing as a pretext to silence Trump’s opponents, while comedian Ben Stiller and others expressed outrage. Wanda Sykes said Trump had “ended freedom of speech within his first week”.
