Late-night TV comics skewered US President Donald Trump and denounced “blatant censorship” after Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show was pulled off air over his comments on the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
Network ABC’s decision to suspend Kimmel “indefinitely” came after Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr threatened the licences of ABC affiliates that broadcast his show.
Trump, on his way back from a trip to Britain, again condemned evening shows on network television, saying “all they do is hit Trump”.
“I mean, they’re getting a licence. I would think maybe their licence should be taken away. It will be up to Brendan Carr,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One.
Stephen Colbert – whose own Emmy-winning Late Show on CBS will be taken off the air next year – opened his Thursday programme by saying “today, we are all Jimmy Kimmel”.
“After threats from Trump’s FCC Chair, ABC yanked Kimmel off their air indefinitely. That is blatant censorship,” Colbert said.
“With an autocrat, you cannot give an inch, and if ABC thinks this is going to satisfy the regime, they are woefully naive,” he said.
Colbert’s show was axed shortly after he criticised a decision by CBS’s parent company, Paramount Global, to settle a lawsuit brought by Trump over an interview with former Vice-President Kamala Harris.
CBS said in July that cancelling Colbert’s programme was a “purely financial decision”.
Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart delivered his own response to Kimmel’s suspension, introduced on Thursday night as “your patriotically obedient host” of the “all-new government-approved Daily Show”.
“Some naysayers may argue that this administration’s speech concerns are merely a cynical ploy... to obscure an unprecedented consolidation of power and unitary intimidation,” Stewart said.
“Some people would say that - not me though, I think it’s great.”
Once a staple for American audiences, late-night talk shows on network TV have seen declining viewership and advertising revenue in recent years amid a trend of cord-cutting.
Linear ad spending for late-night segments on ABC, CBS and NBC nearly halved between 2018 and 2024, falling from US$439 million ($749.6m) to US$221m ($377.2m), the New York Times reported in May citing data from advertising data firm Guideline.
FCC chief Carr said on Thursday that the media ecosystem was experiencing a “very disruptive moment” and that more changes were to come.
“We are in the midst of a massive shift in dynamics in the media ecosystem... including the permission structure that President Trump’s election has provided,” he said on a CNBC programme.
“I would simply say we’re not done yet with seeing the consequences of that.”
Trump earlier urged NBC to remove satirists Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, writing on his Truth Social platform that they were “total losers”.
On The Tonight Show, Fallon praised Kimmel as a “decent, funny and loving guy and I hope he comes back”.
“A lot of people are worried that... we’ll be censored, but I’m going to cover the president’s trip to the UK just like I normally would,” Fallon told his audience.
A voiceover was then played calling Trump “incredibly handsome”.
Meyers said on Thursday that Trump’s administration is “pursuing a crackdown on free speech” at home.
“And completely unrelated, I just want to say... I’ve always admired and respected Mr Trump,” he said.
“If you’ve ever seen me say anything negative about him, that’s just AI.”
Late-night legend David Letterman also defended Kimmel on Thursday, calling the ABC decision “ridiculous”.
“You can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian criminal administration in the Oval Office,” Letterman said at a New York event.
Fox News host Greg Gutfeld said on Thursday Kimmel was not being “censored” after earlier calling him a clown.
“While some say it’s an attack on free speech, others believe it’s an excuse to unload Jimmy due to his poor ratings and the cost to keep him on,” Gutfeld said.
- Agence France-Presse