US President Donald Trump suggested that television networks critical of him should have their licenses “taken away,” after ABC suspended late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
Kimmel’s suspension followed remarks in which he speculated that a Trump supporter may have carried out conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s murder in Utah, comments that drew pressure from the White House and threats of regulatory action.
Speaking to reporters aboard his flight home from a state visit to the United Kingdom, Trump said that networks covering him “negatively” could face punishment from his administration.
The president also claimed that major US networks opposed him “97 per cent” of the time, though he provided no evidence to support the figure, saying only that he had read it “somewhere.”
“I have read some place that the networks were 97% against me, again, 97% negative, and yet I won and easily [in last year’s election]. They give me only bad publicity [and] press. I mean, they’re getting a licence. I would think maybe their licence should be taken away," Trump said.
Why was Jimmy Kimmel Live! cancelled?
In his monologue, Jimmy Kimmel claimed the “MAGA gang" was trying to downplay the Utah killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk by a 22-year-old accused of being “indoctrinated with leftist ideology."
He argued that Donald Trump’s allies were “desperately trying to characterise this kid as anything other than one of them” and said the president mourned Kirk like “a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.”
The remarks drew sharp criticism from FCC chair Brendan Carr, who described them as “the sickest conduct possible.” Carr also warned that broadcasters could face regulatory repercussions if they failed to act.
Soon after, Disney, ABC’s parent company, announced Kimmel’s suspension. The move came after Nexstar Media, a major station owner seeking FCC approval for a $6.2 billion merger with Tegna, refused to air the show and welcomed the decision.
Kimmel, a frequent critic of Trump, also condemned the lowering of flags for Kirk and mocked the president’s response to the killing. On the Monday broadcast, he spliced a clip of Trump addressing reporters about Kirk’s death before shifting to remarks about a White House ballroom project. “He’s at the fourth stage of grief,” Kimmel quipped. “Construction. It’s demolition, construction.”
“This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he calls a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a gold fish,” he said. Representatives for Kimmel have not yet commented on the suspension.
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