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White House press chief Caroline Leavitt on Saturday denied that late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel was suspended due to pressure from the Trump administration, even after Federal Communications Commission’s threat of Brendan Kerr withdrawing ABC’s broadcast license.
“The decision to fire Jimmy Kimmel and cancel his show came from an ABC executive,” Lewitt told Fox News “Saturday America.”
“This was a decision made by the ABC because Jimmy Kimmel deliberately chose to lie to the audience in his program about the death of a highly respected man when our country was in a state of mourning,” Leavitt added. “It was a decision he made and he is now facing consequences for that decision and its lies.”
Kimmel was not fired by ABC.
His long-running show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The murderer of Republican conservative activist Charlie Kirk was pulled out of the air “indefinitely” on Wednesday following Kimmel’s remarks that it was leading to President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement.
“The Magagang is desperately trying to characterize the child who killed Charlie Kirk as something other than one person, and is doing everything it can to score political points from there,” Kimmel said.
“There was sadness between my fingers,” he added.
Kimmel’s suspension comes after considerable pressure from FCC Chair Kerr. He suggested that Kimmel’s jokes “mislead” the American public about the facts about the murder of a conservative activist, and that he would qualify for an ABC broadcast license.
On Wednesday, the FCC commissioner told right-wing commentator Benny Johnson that Kimmel’s “really sick” comments could form the basis for a “strong litigation” against ABC and Disney.
“This is a very serious problem for Disney right now. We can do this in an easy or difficult way,” Kerr told Johnson. “These companies will find ways to take action in Kimmel, or there will be additional work beyond the FCC.”
“They have a license granted by us at the FCC, which has an obligation to operate in the public interest,” Kerr said.
On CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on Thursday, Carr said the FCC was “not finished yet” after being changed to media situations. Carr, who was appointed Trump’s FCC president, took on the role in January.
Trump himself has also suggested that he will revoke the license of the broadcast and television networks the federal government opposes him.
Nexstar Media Groupthe country’s largest local television broadcasting group, said the station, which belongs to ABC, will preempt Kimmel’s “foreseeable future” show following his remarks. Sinclair Broadcasting Groupanother TV station owner followed suit.
Kimmel’s fate at ABC is still in the air as a meeting with Disney It’s reportedly going on. The late-night host is in continuous discussion with Disney and ABC executives about the terms of his long-running show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” According to variety, which quotes people familiar with the issue, it could return to the air.
There is no guarantee that Kimmel and Disney will reach an agreement, the report said. ABC is airing a recurring “celebrity family feud” in Kimmel’s slot following the suspension.
Kirk was killed on September 10th while speaking on a university campus in Utah. His influence with the young conservatives helped Trump secure the presidency, which made him love conservative activists to the president.
ABC and Disney fired from all sides after the episode. While liberals say they are engaged in a “cancellation culture” that Republicans claim to be a lighter splash, conservative commentators who called Kimmel’s comments the outcome of “results culture” have described them as “results culture.”
Many are trying to protest the late-night host halt. White House press secretary Levitt’s comments on Fox were partly counterarguments to former President Barack Obama’s post on “X.”
“After years of complaining about the cancellation culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory measures against media companies.
On Friday, former Disney CEO Michael Eisner supported Kimmel, in a social media post for “X”: “Where did all the leadership go?”
“Maybe the Constitution said, “Parliament will not create laws that exclude freedom of speech or the freedom of the press, except for political or financial self-interest,” Eisner wrote. “For the record, this former CEO finds Jimmy Kimmel extremely talented and entertaining.”
New York State Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for Kimmel to return to work Friday, saying social media platform X: “Disney/ABC is responsible for refusing to participate in corruption.”
Many actors, writers and creatives in Hollywood have criticised the suspension. On Thursday, hundreds of people from Burbank, California participated in a protest that the American writers guild and group Burbank hit the ice, carrying signs of slogans like “protect freedom of speech” and “ABC bends their knees to fascism.”
Elsewhere, the man was arrested Friday after being fired in the lobby window of an ABC affiliate station in Sacramento, California, police said. A spokesperson said the motivation remains under investigation.
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz is probably the most unlikely of Kimmel supporters after comparing FCC chairman Kerr’s comments in relation to the late-night host of the mafia. “He says, ‘We can do this in an easy way, or we can do this in the hard way,’…it’s just a short distance from Goodfellas,” Cruz said of Carr.
“If the government is saying, “If you don’t like what the media says, if we don’t say what we like, if that’s bad for conservatives, then we’re going to drive you out of the airwaves,” then I’ll tell you.
– CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger and Dan Mangan contributed to this report.
