{"id":253174,"date":"2025-09-25T08:37:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T08:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/253174\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T08:37:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T08:37:17","slug":"trump-rails-against-kimmels-return-to-late-night-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/253174\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump rails against Kimmel’s return to late-night show"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The return of Jimmy Kimmel to ABC\u2019s airwaves<\/a> flipped the political script, for a time aligning the late-night comedian with several conservative figures who staunchly disagree with federal regulators trying to shut him down over free speech \u2014 even as President Trump continued to threaten the network.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to thank the people who don\u2019t support my show and what I believe, but support my right to share those beliefs anyway,\u201d Kimmel told viewers during his opening monologue Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Trump in recent days has ramped up efforts to stifle his political opposition and what he perceives to be liberal bias in media coverage through lawsuits and regulatory actions<\/a>, a move that has increasingly concerned the president\u2019s supporters and influential conservative personalities.<\/p>\n

The firestorm over free speech came in the wake of comments Kimmel made about how the \u201cMAGA gang\u201d was trying to score political points from Charlie Kirk\u2019s slaying. On a conservative podcast, Brendan Carr, a Trump loyalist who heads the Federal Communications Commission, accused Kimmel of \u201cthe sickest conduct<\/a>\u201d and suggested there could be regulatory consequences for local television stations whose programming did not serve the public interest.<\/p>\n

After Disney took \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d off the air<\/a> at ABC last week, some high-profile Trump allies worried the threat of regulating speech was taking it too far \u2014 and that conservatives could be next if the federal government were to follow through.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we embrace the FCC stripping licenses from anyone who says something you disagree with, the next Democrat president who gets in the White House will do this and will come after everyone right of center,\u201d Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a critic of Kimmel\u2019s, said Wednesday on his podcast, \u201cVerdict With Ted Cruz,\u201d<\/a> reaffirming previous comments in which he likened Carr\u2019s threats to mafia-like maneuvers. \u201cThat is a slippery slope to oblivion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump, however, was dismayed by Kimmel\u2019s return and threatened legal action, following a pattern in which he has sued major media outlets over negative coverage of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we are going to test ABC out on this. Let\u2019s see how we do,\u201d Trump wrote late Tuesday<\/a> on his social media platform, suggesting a lawsuit against the network could potentially lead to a \u201clucrative\u201d settlement. \u201cA true bunch of losers! Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad Ratings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Combined, Trump\u2019s legal threats and Carr\u2019s comments have fueled a sharp debate about free speech, and whether Trump and Carr are trying to level the playing field for conservative voices or launching a coordinated and illegal attack to silence liberal ones. As a result, Carr \u2014 the author of an FCC chapter in the right-wing Project 2025 playbook \u2014 has landed in a glaring media spotlight and as the target of a congressional inquiry.<\/p>\n

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and eight other Democratic senators wrote a letter to Carr<\/a> on Wednesday expressing \u201cgrave concern\u201d over the FCC\u2019s apparent role in Kimmel\u2019s suspension, and demanded answers about the role the agency played in it and its justification.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FCC\u2019s regulatory authority over broadcast licenses was never intended to serve as a weapon to silence criticism or punish satirical commentary,\u201d the senators wrote. \u201cYour agency\u2019s mission is to serve the public interest, not to act as an enforcement arm for political retribution against media outlets that displease those in power.\u201d<\/p>\n

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has also written to Carr, accusing the Trump administration of \u201cwaging a dangerous attack on those who dare to speak out against it\u201d and calling on Carr to recommit to defending free speech, including by disavowing his previous remarks about Kimmel.<\/p>\n

In the days after Kimmel was sidelined, Cruz and other influential conservatives, who have long trashed the longtime late-night host, voiced opposition to his situation based on concerns that the FCC may be trying to regulate speech on the airwaves.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to like what somebody says on TV to agree that the government shouldn\u2019t be getting involved here,\u201d former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said on a social media post Monday<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Podcast host Joe Rogan<\/a> said he did not \u201cthink the government should be involved, ever, in dictating what a comedian can or cannot say in a monologue\u201d \u2014 and told conservatives they are \u201ccrazy\u201d if they don\u2019t think such tactics could be \u201cused\u201d against them. Candace Owens, a far-right influencer, said Kimmel\u2019s suspension was an attack on free speech, and said she does not agree with the government controlling what can be said.<\/p>\n

Ben Shapiro raised concerns about potential government overreach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want the FCC in the business of telling local affiliated that their licenses will be removed if they broadcast material that the FCC deems to be informationally false,\u201d Shapiro said, warning that \u201cone day the shoe will be on the other foot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conservative podcaster Tucker Carlson<\/a> said last week he does not want to see \u201cbad actors\u201d use Kirk\u2019s killing as a means to restrict free speech, which he said is a cornerstone of Kirk\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou hope a year from now, the turmoil we\u2019re seeing in the aftermath of his murder won\u2019t be leveraged to bring hate speech laws to this country,\u201d Carlson said.<\/p>\n

In his opening monologue, Kimmel touched on the same theme. He said Carr\u2019s tactics were \u201cun-American\u201d and likened them to what happens in authoritarian countries such as Russia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis show is not important,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the podcast last week, Carr called Kimmel\u2019s remarks about Kirk\u2019s alleged shooter \u201csome of the sickest conduct possible.\u201d He then said: \u201cFrankly, when you see stuff like this, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. There are ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there\u2019s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Monday, Carr denied claims that he threatened to pull television stations\u2019 licenses and that he played a role in Kimmel\u2019s suspension, saying \u201cthat didn\u2019t happen in any way, shape or form.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re completely misrepresenting the work of the FCC and what we\u2019ve been doing,\u201d he said during a conference in New York, accusing Democrats of engaging in a \u201ccampaign of projection and distortion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carr said the FCC wants to empower local television station owners to \u201cpush back on national programmers, even when they think there\u2019s some content that they don\u2019t think in their judgment \u2014 not my judgment, but their judgment \u2014 makes sense for the local communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

What happened with Kimmel, Carr said, is that local television stations \u201cfor the first time in a long time stood up and said, \u2018We don\u2019t want to run that program, at least right now.\u2019\u201d He said Disney, a national programmer, then made its own business decision not to air Kimmel for a few days.<\/p>\n

After Disney brought back the show, station owners Sinclair Broadcast Group and Nexstar Media Group said they would not be running it<\/a> on their ABC affiliates, hinting to future conflicts that could play out in the media landscape.<\/p>\n

Carr opened his Project 2025 chapter on the FCC by writing that the agency should \u201cpromote freedom of speech,\u201d but has also sided with Trump in criticizing broadcasters for allegedly showing bias against conservatives and said that he would use the agency\u2019s power to ensure that they better serve the \u201cpublic interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bob Shrum, director of the USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future, said the political brawl over Kimmel has been interesting to watch \u2014 in part because of the bipartisan backlash to the suspension and the administration\u2019s apparent influence on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m encouraged by the fact that it\u2019s not just Democrats who complained about this, it\u2019s Republicans like Ted Cruz,\u201d Shrum said. \u201cThat at least begins to set a deterrent for the federal government going too far on this.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Trump was angered by Kimmel\u2019s return, Shrum found it notable that his social media post ended with the line: \u201cLet Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad Ratings.\u201d It showed the limits the president sees on his power to wipe Kimmel from the airwaves, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not the kind of last line that says, \u2018We\u2019re coming after you,\u2019\u201d Shrum said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The return of Jimmy Kimmel to ABC\u2019s airwaves flipped the political script, for a time aligning the late-night…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":253175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[8811,22608,51396,19719,15784,36397,2142,29536,127271,20506,133678,50,4158,133679,76407,277,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-253174","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-abc","10":"tag-agency","11":"tag-brendan-carr","12":"tag-charlie-kirk","13":"tag-conservative","14":"tag-fcc","15":"tag-federal-government","16":"tag-free-speech","17":"tag-kimmel","18":"tag-license","19":"tag-local-television-station","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-return","22":"tag-sen-ted-cruz","23":"tag-suspension","24":"tag-trump","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-unitedstates","27":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115264032252946566","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}