On September 17, ABC, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company, announced the indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Officially, the network described it as an open-ended pause, but in the US media industry it is already being seen as a possible end for the program, which has been on air since 2003.
The trigger was Jimmy Kimmel’s on-air reaction to the killing of far-right activist Charlie Kirk. The host condemned the attack, but then said that the “MAGA gang” was trying to portray the killer as anyone but one of its own and to score political points from the case. He then played a clip of Donald Trump responding to a question about Kirk’s death by talking about renovations at the White House, and compared that reaction to a child mourning a goldfish.
FCC chair Brendan Carr soon said on conservative commentator Benny Johnson’s podcast that such remarks could lead to sanctions and warned broadcasters that they should “take action.” Trump himself wrote on Truth Social that Kimmel’s suspension was “great news for America.”
At nearly the same time, Nexstar Media Group, the largest operator of local television stations in the United States, said it was pulling the show from stations it owns and from partner outlets. The company described the host’s remarks as “offensive and insensitive.” Sinclair Broadcast Group called for a public apology and a donation to Kirk’s family and Turning Point USA. Kimmel has not commented publicly. His contract with ABC runs through May 2026.
The decision triggered a strong response across the industry. SAG-AFTRA, the Writers Guild of America and the American Federation of Musicians said the move threatened free speech and amounted to censorship in practice. Jon Stewart, Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert publicly backed Kimmel, while figures including Ben Stiller, Wanda Sykes and Damon Lindelof also criticized ABC’s decision.
Former US president Barack Obama said the administration, after years of complaining about “cancel culture,” had taken pressure on media to a “new and dangerous level,” and that this was precisely the kind of government coercion the First Amendment was meant to prevent.
The dispute over Kimmel is unfolding amid a broader campaign of pressure on American media. The article also cites Trump’s lawsuits against CBS, Paramount, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, as well as the White House conflict with the Associated Press over the name of the Gulf of Mexico. In that context, the Kimmel case has become another episode in the argument over how free speech is being defined in the United States during Trump’s second term.