Trump threatens networks' broadcast licences after Jimmy Kimmel axed - here's why it matters

It’s a situation which has been described as an “outright abuse of power” by Kamala Harris, “government coercion” by Barack Obama, and “dangerous” by Republican senator Ted Cruz (yes, really), and US president Donald Trump has suggested the cancellation of late night talk shows shouldn’t stop with Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel.

Allow us to get you up to speed…

Colbert’s cancellation

Stephen Colbert was the first big name from the world of talk show hosts to find his show cancelled, as back in July he announced The Late Show would end in May next year, just days after he criticised his network’s parent company, Paramount Global, for settling a lawsuit filed by Trump while looking to get his administration’s approval for a merger – a move he slammed as a “big fat bribe”.

CBS insisted it was “purely a financial decision”.

Kimmel’s suspension

Then, this week, it was Jimmy Kimmel who got taken off air, with an ABC spokesperson telling The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday that Jimmy Kimmel Live! would be “pre-empted immediately”.

Two days prior, Kimmel criticised the MAGA movement’s response to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last week, saying: “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.”

‘That leaves Jimmy and Seth’

And Trump doesn’t want things to end there, as he celebrated Kimmel’s suspension by calling for two more late night talk shows to face the axe.

In a post to his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, the Republican wrote: “Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy [Fallon] and Seth [Meyers], two total losers, on Fake News NBC.

“Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!”

Trump: ‘Maybe their licence should be taken away’

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One the next day, Trump went even further and said: “I have read someplace that the networks were 97 per cent against me. I get 97 per cent negative, and yet I won easily.

“If they’re 97 per cent against, they give me only bad publicity… They’re getting a licence, I would think, maybe their licence should be taken away.”

The FCC itself states it is “barred by law from trying to prevent the broadcast of any point of view”, and that the Communications Act “prohibits [it] from censoring broadcast material, in most cases, and from making any regulation that would interfere with freedom of speech”.

The Disney takeover

And while Paramount Global had its merger with Skydance Media going on in the background amid his cancellation, ABC is owned by Disney, and their Hulu + Live TV product agreed on a merger with sports streaming service Fubo at the start of this year.

In April, though, it was reported that the Department of Justice was probing the deal amid competition concerns.

CNN anchor Jake Tapper pointed out the situation in a social media video on Thursday, saying that Disney CEO Bob Iger faces a “legacy-defining decision” which “could put him at odds with the Trump administration or could put him at odds with the principle about whether the government should be pushing private companies to cancel speakers and speech they don’t like”.

The Nexstar takeover

But that’s not all, as Nexstar – which owns a number of local ABC affiliate stations – has also issued a statement insisting its decision to take Kimmel off-air was not influenced by remarks made by Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr, who told podcaster Benny Johnson that networks can either “do this the easy way or the hard way”.

In other words, they can either “find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel”, or the FCC faces “additional work” on the issue.

Variety reports that Nexstar’s chief communications officer Gary Wellman was asked if these comments impacted the company’s decision surrounding Jimmy Kimmel Live!, to which he replied: “No.”

Weitman added: “The decision to pre-empt Jimmy Kimmel Live! was made unilaterally by the senior executive team at Nexstar, and they had no communication with the FCC or any government agency prior to making that decision.”

Nexstar has its own merger to focus on, as it’s buying broadcast rival Tegna for $6.2 billion, subject to FCC approval.

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

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.