Yesterday, ABC abruptly pulled “Jimmy Kimmel Live” off the air, following backlash from conservatives in response to Kimmel’s statements about the reaction to the killing of right-wing activist and media personality Charlie Kirk. ABC’s decision came shortly after one of its affiliate local broadcasting groups, Nexstar, announced that it would pull the show from its stations indefinitely following Kimmel’s remarks. Nexstar is the largest owner of broadcast stations in the United States, with an audience reach of 220 million people.
ABC’s decision also comes after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, as a guest on right-wing influencer Benny Johnson’s podcast, criticized Kimmel’s comments. Carr indicated the regulatory agency could take action against ABC for Kimmel’s remarks, applauded Nexstar’s action, and encouraged other licensed broadcasters not to “run Kimmel anymore.” Taken together, it is clear that Chairman Carr’s comments pressured ABC to silence Jimmy Kimmel for the content of his speech, or else face regulatory scrutiny – a blatant instance of censorship.
Notably, Nexstar has a proposed $6.2 billion merger with competing broadcast chain Tegna, the second largest broadcast group owner. The transfer must be approved by the Federal Communications Commission, and because the proposal exceeds both the existing national ownership cap and the local market limits, approval will require either that the FCC waive existing rules or change them to accommodate the merger.
President Donald Trump has made no secret of his disdain for Jimmy Kimmel and his late-night talk show peers. Following the news of CBS’s cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert after settling the meritless lawsuit by Donald Trump, the President wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, “I absolutely love that Colbert’ got fired […] I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next.” As Public Knowledge has documented, Chairman Carr has made it no secret that he will not hesitate to use his regulatory heft to make media entities under the FCC’s umbrella fall in line with Trump’s agenda.
The following can be attributed to Morgan Wilsmann, Policy Analyst at Public Knowledge:
“The decision to take Jimmy Kimmel off the air after he made remarks that powerful figures in Trump’s administration found offensive is alarming. When a federal regulator signals that broadcast licenses (or a pending regulatory transaction) might be at risk if a network does not silence a political critic, there is no word for it besides “censorship.” It is all the more troubling that President Trump and said regulator, Chairman Carr, are both celebrating the censorship of a late-night comedian.
“The deep irony here is that Brendan Carr has asserted that “free speech is not a threat to democracy – censorship is. The people who argue otherwise are simply trying to maintain their control over the political narrative.” Now that he wields the ‘government control’ and can shape the ‘political narrative,’ Carr himself seems to forget his own words about censorship as a threat to democracy.
“The FCC undoubtedly plays a crucial role in ensuring that broadcasters serve the public interest. But it may not dictate editorial content or news coverage, and above all, it cannot pressure companies into silencing critics of the government. There is no world where government sway in broadcast programming is anything but a threat to the First Amendment.
“Whether or not one agrees with Jimmy Kimmel’s comments, Americans should have access to independent media that can criticize those in power without fear of government interference or retaliation. Free expression cannot depend on whether the government finds a joke or a critique palatable.”
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