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US president Donald Trump has insisted he is a “very strong person for free speech”, amid outcry over the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live which he said was “great news for America”.
Kimmel became the latest talk show host to have his show curtailed this week, with an ABC spokesperson telling The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday that it would be “pre-empted indefinitely”.
Two days prior, Kimmel addressed the assassination of conservative activist and Trump supporter Charlie Kirk and said: “We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it.”
He joins Stephen Colbert on the list of talk show hosts who have had their shows suspended or brought to a close following comments critical of Trump and his supporters.
Paramount and CBS bosses issued a statement back in July in which they said The Late Show with Stephen Colbert would end in May 2026 and that it was “purely a financial decision”.
Colbert had criticised Paramount for its decision to settle a lawsuit filed by Trump over its editing of a 60 Minutes interview featuring his political opponent Kamala Harris.
Commenting on free speech and TV networks in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump told reporters: “I think it’s very sad, but I think that reporting has to be at least accurate – at least accurate to an extent. Again, when somebody is given- 97 per cent of stories are bad about a person, that’s no longer free speech, that’s no longer- that’s just cheating.
“And they cheat, and they become, really, members of the Democrat National Committee. That’s what they are, the networks, in my opinion – they’re just offshoots of the Democrat National Committee.”
And this prompted Twitter/X users to suggest that if almost all of news coverage about a person is “bad”, then maybe they’re the problem:
One person suggested that Trump “shouldn’t be an a**hole 97% of the time”:
Another said such a statistic suggests the person is question is “really f***ing awful”:
“Imagine being so thin-skinned you think criticism is unconstitutional,” commented a third:
Kimmel is yet to comment publicly on his show’s suspension.
Why not read…
- Colbert rallies behind Kimmel after ‘blatant assault on free speech’
- Watch Jon Stewart’s dig at Trump after Kimmel taken off-air
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