ReportWire

Tag: Jimmy Kimmel

  • Opinion: Even Sen. Ted Cruz Thinks FCC Went Too Far with Kimmel

    [ad_1]

    On Friday, Houston’s own Sen. Ted Cruz took to his podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz, to denounce Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr’s overt call to push late night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air and his threats to pull ABC’s broadcast license.

    “I think it is unbelievably dangerous for government to put itself in the position of saying we’re going to decide what speech we like and what we don’t, and we’re going to threaten to take you off the air if we don’t like what you’re saying,” Cruz said, noting, with a surprisingly fun movie mobster accent, that Carr was acting like he’d wandered out of Goodfellas.

    And just like that, Cruz, the vaunted Constitutional law expert best known these days for taking poorly politically timed vacations and sometimes staggeringly pragmatic and politically expedient stances that seem to fly in the face of all of that Constitutional expertise, found that there is, in fact, a line he’d rather not cross.

    It (possibly, maybe) had to happen eventually.

    So how did we get here? Well, in case you’ve been on a distant tropical island without any cell signal, this all started on Monday when Kimmel pointed out in his opening monologue for Jimmy Kimmel Live! that MAGA conservatives had spent the weekend “trying to score political points” off Kirk’s death by insisting Kirk’s alleged assassin Tyler Robinson was not one of their own. (Kimmel recorded his monologue before Utah officials issued more information about the suspect and his background.)

    Conservative media began whipping itself up into a frenzy over these comments. The late-night host reportedly planned to clarify his statement on his Wednesday night show, but he never got the chance.

    Earlier that day FCC Chairman Carr was asked about the FCC’s stance on Kimmel’s comments during an appearance on far-right podcaster Benny Johnson’s show. Carr decried the comments, calling Kimmel’s monologue “some of the sickest conduct possible” which does make one wonder what all of today’s modern media Carr has been exposed to. He then went further, criticizing ABC and its parent company Disney for not reprimanding Kimmel, noting that he “could certainly see a path forward for suspension on this” and that the FCC has “remedies we can look at.”

    And then he made himself clearer, Goodfellas-style, though without the use of a fun movie mobster accent.
    “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

    After that two of ABC’s largest affiliates, Sinclair and Nexstar, both eyeing large mergers that will need FCC approval, announced they wouldn’t run Kimmel’s show and by Wednesday evening ABC had shelved Kimmel indefinitely.

    So, here’s where things get interesting.

    The Lone Star State’s junior senator isn’t the guy you think of these days when looking for an example of political bravery, a politician with the true courage of his convictions. He’s the guy who spoke out eloquently against then-candidate Donald Trump’s rise in at the 2016 GOP National Convention, before quickly changing his tune when his speech was meant with vehement boos from an irate Republican audience. And he hasn’t blinked since.

    Even as Trump has made fun of Cruz’s wife, accused his father of being involved in the JFK assassination. Even in the face of MAGA supporters storming the U.S. Capital Building and the stacks of criminal charges and convictions. Even as Trump has issued a slew of executive actions that essentially seem to divest Congress of Constitutionally mandated powers, the powers that Cruz and his coworkers are supposed to be wielding on behalf of the millions of constituents who sent them there.

    But on Friday, Cruz spoke out against the FCC chairman’s actions.

    “I hate what Jimmy Kimmel said. I am thrilled that he was fired,” Cruz said. (Note: Cruz isn’t quite accurate here. Kimmel’s show has been shelved but he has not reportedly been fired.) “But, let me tell you, if the government gets in the business of saying, ‘We don’t like what you, the media, have said. We’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like’ that will end up bad for conservatives.”

    And he went further from there. “I hate what Jimmy Kimmel said. I am thrilled that he was fired,” Cruz said. But, let me tell you, if the government gets in the business of saying, ‘We don’t like what you, the media, have said. We’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like’ that will end up bad for conservatives.”

    “Going down this road, there will come a time when a Democrat wins again, wins the White House,” he warned. “They will silence us. They will use this power and they will use it ruthlessly. And that is dangerous.”

    Even as President Donald Trump has been vocal in his praise and support of Carr’s actions, Cruz hasn’t – at least as of this moment – walked his statements back.

    And keep in mind, Cruz has not maintained his seat since 2012 because of his charisma and charm. (Former President George W. Bush told donors, “I just don’t like the guy.” U.S. Sen. Lindsay Graham once stated that if someone took Cruz out on the Senate floor the Senate wouldn’t convict. Former GOP House Speaker John Boehner called him “Lucifer incarnate.” Former Sen. Al Franken, a Democrat, wrote in his memoir, “I like Ted Cruz more than my other colleagues like Ted Cruz. And I hate Ted Cruz.”)

    Instead of being likable, Cruz has another set of skills. Specifically, his 2016 GOP Convention debacle aside, Cruz seems to have an almost unerring ability to put a finger to political winds, read political tea leaves and then to, well, thread a political needle that always has him exactly in line with his donors and his constituents.

    Thus, while it’s possible that all of this has hit some tripwire in his Constitutional scholar’s mind that requires him to take a stand, it’s potentially a much more interesting shift, carefully worded, and carefully framed, for Cruz.

    In fact, when NBC News asked Cruz, who is Republican chairman of the Commerce Committee, which oversees the FCC, if Cruz would do as Senate Democrats have requested and call Carr before the committee for a hearing on this incident, Cruz didn’t say hell, yes. But he also explicitly did not say no, telling NBC, “We will certainly engage in oversight of all of the agencies within the committee’s jurisdiction.”

    So far, Cruz has garnered a smattering of support from his fellow Republicans, with U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, of Texas and Pennsylvania Republican Sen. David McCormick speaking out in support. Cruz is also in line with a contingent of the conservative podcaster manosphere, many of whom have taken issue with Kimmel being pushed off the air, noting concerns about how this potentially violates First Amendment rights of free speech.

    Cruz cites the same concerns in his podcast episode, pointing out that this is the kind of thing that the GOP could bitterly regret someday.

    “Going down this road, there will come a time when a Democrat wins again, wins the White House,” he warned. “They will silence us. They will use this power and they will use it ruthlessly. And that is dangerous.”

    Meanwhile Trump has continued to celebrate Carr’s actions, noting that since, in his view, most TV broadcasters give him and his administration negative coverage “I would think maybe their license should be taken away.”

    [ad_2]

    Dianna Wray

    Source link

  • John Oliver Had This to Say About Jimmy Kimmel’s Suspension

    [ad_1]

    After Jimmy Kimmel Live! was abruptly pulled off the air following his comments about Charlie Kirk, which many deemed inappropriate, many talk show hosts, including John Oliver, stepped forward to discuss the implications of this move, especially on the First Amendment. CBS allegedly canceled Stephen Colbert’s show shortly before this, citing his political commentary.

    John Oliver says Jimmy Kimmel is the ‘latest canary in the coal mine’

    John Oliver made his feelings abundantly clear about the cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel’s show. He claimed that free speech was under attack in the United States. In the latest episode of his show, Last Week Tonight, the host condemned the cancellation. He also claimed that it was “by no means the first casualty in Trump’s attacks on free speech.”

    Oliver continued, “He’s just the latest canary in the coal mine,…A mine that at this point now seems more dead canary than coal (via Business Insider).” Interestingly, various other actors and comedians also criticized Kimmel’s suspension, and Oliver dedicated most of his episode to discussing it.

    Oliver criticized Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Carr’s reaction to Kimmel’s statements directly led to the suspension.

    Among the things that were singled out in Jimmy Kimmel’s show, the host notably said, “We hit 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 doing everything they can to score political points from it.” This was the primary thing that led to action against his show.

    Before Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and Jon Stewart had already spoken out about Kimmel’s suspension. But Oliver’s segment was more detailed and more critical compared to what the other hosts said. Although Colbert and Meyers also spoke in detail about how this suspension was an assault on freedom of speech.

    The future of Jimmy Kimmel Live! still hangs in jeopardy.

    [ad_2]

    Sourav Chakraborty

    Source link

  • Why Won’t America’s Business Leaders Stand Up to Donald Trump?

    [ad_1]

    If nothing else, the events of recent weeks have been clarifying. “Donald Trump is using the murder of Charlie Kirk, which was tragic, as a pretext for an authoritarian crackdown,” Brendan Nyhan, a Dartmouth political scientist who studies democratic erosion, said to me last week. The pressure that the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, put on ABC and its parent company, Disney, to suspend the late-night comic Jimmy Kimmel was the most visible manifestation of this Trumpian initiative, but Carr himself made clear that the blitz isn’t over. “We’re not done yet,” he told CNBC, alluding to further changes in the media ecosystem.

    There’s another clarifying takeaway: as long as Trump continues to abuse his executive power with the presumptive backing of the legislature and the Supreme Court, the titans of American capitalism can’t be relied on to push back against him. This was evident not only in Kimmel’s suspension but during the recent dinner at the White House attended by more than twenty tech moguls including Apple’s Tim Cook, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, who took turns praising Trump and thanking him for his leadership.

    Given the President’s long-standing support for corporate tax cuts and deregulation of industry, this pusillanimity is perhaps not so surprising. Still, during Trump’s first term, business leaders did occasionally mount some opposition. In the summer of 2017, after Trump said there were “very fine people” on both sides of a clash between white supremacists and counter-protesters at a rally in Charlottesville, many members of a White House business advisory council quit, and the body ended up collapsing. On January 6, 2021, the day of the Capitol insurrection, the Business Roundtable, a group that comprises C.E.O.s from major companies, issued a statement calling on the President to “put an end to the chaos and facilitate the peaceful transition of power.” But, these days, business leaders are largely staying silent as the second Trump Administration ramps up its attacks on the media and other targets.

    Of course, some prominent entrepreneurs who are, or at least were, aligned with Trump are themselves media owners or investors. In December of last year, Elon Musk, the owner of X and a self-professed champion of free speech, remarked on his platform, “Legacy media must die.” The following month, shortly after Trump was inaugurated, the President said he’d like to see Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle, buy the American operations of TikTok, the Chinese social-media app. According to news reports, Ellison, who is one of the world’s richest men, is now part of a consortium looking to do just that. Meanwhile, Skydance Media, a company run by Ellison’s son, David, recently merged with Paramount, the conglomerate that owns CBS, and is said to be considering a takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN. The elder Ellison helped finance the Paramount merger, and he certainly has the means to fund a run at Warner Bros. Discovery, too. “America could end up with two of its major social-media companies, plus CBS News and CNN, in the hands of Trump supporters,” Nyhan noted.

    This outcome would resemble what happened in Hungary after Viktor Orbán, another nationalist strongman, was elected as Prime Minister, in 2010. “Trump is really following Orbán on this one because Orbán pressured media company owners by threatening their other businesses and their bottom lines, harassed them with libel actions, and arranged to have his friends buy up troublesome media outlets that did not comply,” Kim Lane Scheppele, a professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton who has taught at two universities in Budapest, wrote to me, in an e-mail. In a subsequent phone conversation, Scheppele pointed to Orbán’s effort to gut the state broadcaster and to place his allies on the national media board, which is meant to insure political neutrality in state-run outlets. Orbán also exerted control over the country’s newspaper industry, which had previously been a vibrant one, with at least nine print titles in Budapest alone. Scheppele recounted how the Hungarian leader exploited the fact that the newspapers were heavily dependent on government advertising. He cut this financial lifeline, and then his associates bought some of the papers and flipped their politics. “He left a few small liberal publications in Budapest so he could point to them and say, ‘Hey, I’m not a dictator,’ ” Scheppele said. “But, when you get outside the capital, the media is pro-Orbán all the way down.”

    Things haven’t gone that far in the U.S., but Scheppele noted that Trump, like Orbán, is weaponizing the central government’s financial and regulatory power, which, in the hands of a vengeful man, can be a fearsome prospect. “The universities are caving to him because they realize that the Administration has the ability to cripple them financially,” Scheppele commented. “Ditto the law firms. Ditto the media companies.”

    ABC’s decision to suspend a late-night comic over a few throwaway comments he made in the wake of Kirk’s murder follows a string of similarly submissive moves in the industry. This past December, ABC agreed to donate fifteen million dollars to Trump’s Presidential library to settle a defamation lawsuit he brought against one of the network’s hosts, George Stephanopoulos, for on-air comments Stephanopoulos made regarding the E. Jean Carroll verdict. In July, Paramount reached a sixteen-million-dollar settlement in another Trump lawsuit, which involved the CBS News show “60 Minutes.” That same month, CBS announced its plans to cancel “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” which frequently lampooned Trump. At the time, CBS’s parent company, Paramount, was looking to complete its merger with Skydance, which required approval from Trump’s F.C.C. Subsequently, the deal went through.

    After Kimmel’s statements on Kirk, Disney, which was already facing an F.C.C. investigation into its diversity practices, came under renewed pressure. Last Wednesday, on a conservative podcast, Carr, the F.C.C. chair, said Kimmel’s remarks were a “very, very serious issue for Disney,” and that it was time for the owners of local television stations that broadcast the comedian’s show to “step up.” Hours later, Nexstar Media Group, a company that owns more than twenty local television stations affiliated with the ABC network, announced that these stations would stop airing Kimmel’s show indefinitely—a step that upped the commercial threat to ABC and Disney’s C.E.O., Bob Iger. Nexstar had an urgent reason to curry favor with the F.C.C.: it’s looking to buy out one of its competitors, and that deal needs the agency’s approval.

    [ad_2]

    John Cassidy

    Source link

  • Disney’s ‘Lilith Fair’ Doc Premiere: Sarah McLachlan Says Musical Performances Canceled Amid Calls for Free Speech Following Jimmy Kimmel Suspension

    [ad_1]

    The musical performances scheduled to take place at Sunday night’s premiere of Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery have been canceled as Disney — parent company of the doc’s distributor, ABC News Studios — continues to deal with the fallout from last week’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel.

    “While the previously scheduled musical performances will not take place, we invite you to stay for a reception following the screening to celebrate the documentary,” organizers said in a statement Sunday afternoon.

    At the premiere, Lilith Fair co-founder Sarah McLachlan, who also appears in the documentary, introduced the film ahead of the screening. She announced that the performances were canceled in a move of solidarity to support free speech.

    McLachlan began her remarks by noting that she struggled with what to say.

    “It’s a gift for all of us to see [this film], but also I’ve grappled with being here tonight and around what to say about the present situation that we are all faced with, the stark contraction to the many advances we’ve made watching the insidious erosion of women’s rights, of trans and queer rights, the muzzling of free speech,” McLachlan said. “I think we’re all fearful for what comes next, and none of us know, but what I do know is that I have to keep pushing forward as an artist, as a woman to find a way through, and though I don’t begin to know what the answer is, I believe we all need to work towards a softening to let in the possibility of a better way, because I see music as a bridge to our shared humanity, to finding common ground.”

    She continued: “If Lilith taught me anything, it taught me there is a great strength in coming together to lift each other up instead of tearing each other down. So I really hope this documentary inspires everyone to continue to try and create positive change in your communities, to keep lifting each other up, keep championing the causes you believe in with kindness and empathy because ultimately we’re all in this together.”

    Toward the end of her remarks, she broke the news about the performances being canceled.

    “I know you’re expecting a performance tonight, and I’m so grateful to all of you for coming, and I apologize if this is disappointing, but we have collectively decided not to perform but instead to stand in solidarity in support of free speech,” McLachlan said, receiving loud applause in support. She added, “Thank you for your understanding.”

    While the invitation to the event did not specify who was planning to perform — it teased only that “special surprise performances” were scheduled — a source tells The Hollywood Reporter that McLachlan and Jewel were the artists set to take the stage, along with another surprise guest. THR has reached out to reps for the event for more information. Puck’s Matt Belloni reported that Olivia Rodrigo was the surprise guest set. Rodrigo appears in the final moments of the documentary in an interview segment during which she praised the Lilith Fair artists as her “North stars.”

    Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery retraces the iconic music festival that went on tour in the late 1990s and featured female solo acts and bands. A portion of the 1-hour, 39-minute documentary was dedicated to how the artists faced protests, backlash and even a free speech fight during stops of the tour. While in Houston, organizers had partnered with Planned Parenthood to set up a booth on the venue grounds with reps handing out condoms. Conservative pro-life groups criticized the move as did venue officials by attempting to ban the organization from participating. Joan Osborne explained that Planned Parenthood was eventually allowed in but artists were prohibited from discussing or promoting the organization during their sets. Osborne resisted, saying she didn’t enter into such an agreement, so she wore a Planned Parenthood T-shirt.

    Before Sunday’s screening, a slide noted that ABC News Studios and Hulu support the Downtown Women’s Center, which helps homeless women and gender diverse individuals; LGBTQ+ advocacy group PFLAG; and the Geena Davis Institute, which works to improve representations of women and girls in media. QR codes for each organization were displayed for moviegoers to find out more.

    Also in the audience at the event, taking place at The Ford in Los Angeles, are singer Lisa Loeb, actor-comedian Mae Martin and actor Charlie Barnett. Meanwhile, the event hosted a red carpet ahead of the screening, but it did not include any members of the press.

    The news comes as Disney continues to deal with the fallout from the suspension of Kimmel following the ABC late-night host’s remarks about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

    After station owners Nexstar and Sinclair said they would not be airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! in the wake of those comments, Disney made the decision to suspend Kimmel indefinitely. The company has faced backlash from Hollywood A-listers, current and veteran late-night hosts, politicians and the public for its decision, with many accusing Disney of bowing to pressure from the Trump administration.

    Ally Pankiw directed the doc. Dan Levy is a producer on the film, and Diane Sawyer is executive producer. All three, along with McLachlan, were on hand at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month for the film’s premiere.

    The documentary was released Sunday on Hulu and Disney+.

    Stacey Wilson Hunt contributed to this report.

    [ad_2]

    Kimberly Nordyke

    Source link

  • Jimmy Kimmel celebrated Hollywood Boulevard’s wacky character. Locals fear life without him

    [ad_1]

    Spider-Man and a Hollywood tour guide were having it out.

    They stood right outside Jimmy Kimmel’s studio on Hollywood Boulevard, arguing about whether ABC was right to yank the host’s TV show off the air last week after he commented on the political response to right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s killing.

    “I like Kimmel!” said the Spider-Man impersonator, who wore pink Nike sneakers and leaned in close so he could hear through his thin, face-covering costume. “What he said is free speech.”

    A tour bus drives past what was Jimmy Kimmel’s studio on Hollywood Boulevard on Sept. 18, 2025.

    (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

    Todd Doten, a tour agent for Beverly Hills Tours of Hollywood, pushed back. He said he believed broadcasters are held to a different standard than private citizens, and that the Federal Communications Commission — which pushed to get Kimmel’s show canceled — “has somewhat of a point.”

    The men verbally sparred beside singer Little Richard’s cracked star on the Walk of Fame. Then Doten patted the selfie-hawking superhero on the back and they parted ways amicably.

    The scene on Friday afternoon captured the Hollywood that Kimmel embraced and aggressively promoted: Weird, gritty and surprisingly poignant.

    Ever since he began filming at the El Capitan Entertainment Centre in 2003, Kimmel has been one of the famed neighborhood’s biggest ambassadors. He drew tourists to the storied Hollywood Boulevard, which — despite being home to the Academy Awards, TCL Chinese Theatre and the Walk of Fame — has long struggled with crime, homelessness and blight. He used his celebrity to help homeless youth and opened a donation center on his show’s backlot for victims of the January wildfires.

    And he filmed many a sketch with Hollywood itself as the bizarro backdrop — including one returning bit called “Who’s High?” in which he tried to guess which of three pedestrians was stoned.

    People protest in front of the Jimmy Kimmel Theater a day after ABC pulled the late-night host off air.

    Protesters in front of Jimmy Kimmel’s theater a day after ABC pulled the late-night host off air indefinitely over comments he made about the response to right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk’s death.

    (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

    Now, locals and entertainment industry officials alike worry what will happen if Kimmel’s show permanently disappears from a Hollywood still struggling to recover from the writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023 and the COVID-19 pandemic that literally shut the neighborhood down. While his suspension has sparked a roiling debate over free speech rights nationwide, in this neighborhood, the impact is more close to home.

    “A hostile act toward Jimmy Kimmel is a hostile act toward Hollywood itself and one of its great champions,” former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told The Times on Friday.

    “Hollywood is both a place and an idea. It’s an industry and a geography. Jimmy is always big on both. He actually lives in Hollywood, at a time when not a lot of stars do.”

    Miguel Aguilar, a fruit vendor who often sets up near Kimmel’s theater, said Friday that business was always better on the days “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” filmed because so many audience members bought his strawberries and pineapples doused in chamoy. He was stunned when a Times reporter told him the show had been suspended.

    “Was it canceled by the government?” Aguilar asked. “We used to get a lot more customers [from the show]. That’s pretty scary.”

    A man holding a sign advertising at a nearby diner said he worried about Kimmel’s crew, including the gaffers and makeup artists.

    “How many people went down with Kimmel?” he asked.

    And Daniel Gomez, who lives down the street, said he feared that nearby businesses will suffer from the loss of foot traffic from the show, for which audience members lined up all the way down the block.

    “Tourists still will come to Hollywood no matter what, but a portion of that won’t be coming anymore,” Gomez said as he signed a large canvas outside the theater on which scores of fans and free speech advocates wrote messages about the show being axed.

    People protest in front of the Jimmy Kimmel Theater.

    Protesters in front of Jimmy Kimmel’s theater in Hollywood.

    (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

    “It’s pretty bad that he got shut down because of his comments,” Gomez added. “Comedians should be free to say whatever they want.”

    In a joint statement, a coalition of Hollywood labor groups including the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, said the kind of political pressure that Kimmel faced as a broadcaster “chills free speech and threatens the livelihoods of thousands of working Americans.”

    “At a time when America’s film and television industry is still struggling due to globalization and industry contraction, further unnecessary job losses only make a bad situation worse,” the statement read.

    During his monologue Monday, Kimmel made remarks about Tyler Robinson, the Utah man accused of fatally shooting Kirk. He said the “MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

    Ingrid Salazar, center, protests outside of Jimmy Kimmel Live.

    Ingrid Salazar protests outside of the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” studio on Thursday.

    (Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times)

    While Kimmel’s remarks could be interpreted in different ways, Kirk’s supporters immediately accused the talk show host of claiming Robinson was a Trump ally, which many of Kimmel’s supporters reject. Kimmel himself has not publicly responded.

    Kimmel also mocked President Trump for talking about the construction of a new White House ballroom after being asked how he was coping with the killing of his close ally.

    Nexstar Media Group responded on Wednesday, saying it would pull the show from its ABC affiliate stations because of Kimmel’s comments. Walt Disney Co., which owns ABC, then announced it would suspend “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” indefinitely.

    Nexstar’s decision to yank the show came after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, threatened to take action against ABC and urged local ABC affiliate stations to stand up the network.

    “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr told right-wing podcast host Benny Johnson. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

    Trump wrote on his Truth Social account: “Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.”

    He also targeted late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, calling them “total losers.” He pressured NBC to cancel their shows, writing: “Do it NBC!!!”

    The president this summer praised CBS’s decision to cancel “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” after this season, writing on Truth Social on July 18: “I absolutely love that Colbert’ got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next.”

    Pedestrians walk across the street from the Jimmy Kimmel Theater.

    Pedestrians walk across the street from the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” theater a day after ABC has pulled the late-night host off air indefinitely.

    (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

    While the show is in limbo, it is unclear what will happen to Kimmel’s iconic theater in the historic former Hollywood Masonic Temple, a neoclassical 1921 building fronted by six imposing columns.

    Disney owns the building, as well as the adjacent 1920s office building that contains the El Capitan Theatre and the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop. Kimmel’s production company, 12:05 AM Productions, occupies four floors — 26,000 square feet — in the six-story office building, according to real estate data provider CoStar.

    Disney did not respond to a request for comment.

    Garcetti, who long represented Hollywood on the L.A. City Council, said Kimmel was a major advocate for renovation of the old Masonic lodge and other revitalization Hollywood projects.

    And after the Oscars returned for good to the Kodak Theatre (now Dolby Theatre) across the street in 2002 after several years outside of Hollywood, Kimmel “helped usher in what I call Hollywood’s second golden age, when the Academy Awards came back and people saw actual stars in nightclubs and restaurants,” Garcetti said.

    When Garcetti was showing off the city to officials with the International Olympic Committee years ago in an effort to host the Games, Kimmel met their helicopter on the roof of a Hollywood hotel to brag about the neighborhood.

    Jimmy Kimmel celebrates as he receives his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

    Jimmy Kimmel, host and executive producer of the late-night talk show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” celebrates as he receives his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Jan. 25, 2013.

    (Reed Saxon/Associated Press)

    At the 2013 Hollywood Chamber of Commerce ceremony awarding Kimmel a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Garcetti quipped: “When you came here to Hollywood Boulevard, this place was full of drug dealers and prostitutes, and you welcomed them with open arms.”

    Kimmel joked that his parents brought him to the Walk of Fame as a 10-year-old and left him there to fend for himself.

    “I’m getting emotional,” he said during the ceremony. “This is embarrassing. I feel like I’m speaking at my own funeral. This is ridiculous. People are going to pee on this star.”

    Kimmel’s star is by his theater, near the stars for rapper Snoop Dogg — and Donald Duck.

    On his show in May, pop star Miley Cyrus told Kimmel she developed a serious infection after filming on the Hollywood Walk of Fame last year, where she rolled around on the sidewalk. Part of her leg, she said, started to “disintegrate.”

    “Have you been to the Walk of Fame in the middle of the night?” she asked.

    “I live here,” Kimmel said.

    “I thought it was my last day,” Cyrus responded.

    Hundreds of protesters have gathered outside Kimmel’s theater in recent days, decrying the suspension of his show.

    The cancellation occurred right after Dianne Hall and Michael Talbur of Kansas City got tickets to a live taping of the show and traveled to Los Angeles. So, they attended a protest Thursday instead.

    Hall said she was expecting Kimmel’s monologue “to be something rude toward the [Kirk] family” but was surprised when she actually listened to it.

    “I kept thinking, ‘Surely something bad was said for him to get fired,’ ” Hall said. “But it was nothing like that.”

    Hollywood resident Ken Tullo said he’s “not a protesting type of guy, but enough’s enough” and he did not want his daughters to grow up with a fear of speaking freely.

    “The current administration cannot laugh at themselves,” Tullo said, “and they don’t want anybody else to laugh.”

    Times staff writer Roger Vincent contributed to this report.

    [ad_2]

    Christopher Buchanan, Hailey Branson-Potts

    Source link

  • Disney Stars Join Calls to Boycott and Cancel Subscriptions

    [ad_1]

    Photo: Middle East Images/AFP via Getty

    ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! on September 17 after Nexstar, the largest television-station owner in the country, promised to pull it over Kimmel’s comments on Charlie Kirk’s death. In response, some people are now pulling their support for ABC and parent company Disney. The WGA, SAG-AFTRA, and celebrities across Hollywood have all spoken up in support of Kimmel, and in-person protests are happening on both coasts. Meanwhile, some creatives with ties to Disney are speaking out: Lost creator Damon Lindelof announced on September 18 that he will not work for Disney until Jimmy Kimmel Live! returns, while She-Hulk star Tatiana Maslany has endorsed a boycott of Disney+ and Hulk Mark Ruffalo points out the economic impact. Stars from other studios, like Cynthia Nixon, Noah Centineo, and more, are showing their support as well by cancelling their subs.

    Hundreds of WGA and SAG-AFTRA members picketed outside Disney’s headquarters in Burbank on September 18, displaying signs with messages including “ABC Bends the Knee to Fascism” and “This is literally what your show Andor is about!” On the same day, picketers also gathered outside of El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, where Kimmel tapes his show. “Here Comes Hitler: A New Comedy From ABC,” one sign read. Several other signs encouraged people to cancel their subscriptions to Disney+ and Hulu.

    About 100 people also gathered in front of ABC’s New York headquarters where the crowd chanted “Kimmel stays, Trump must go” and “ABC, grow a spine,” per Variety. Assemblymember Alex Bores said in a speech that it is “un-American” for the government to take someone off the air “because of political speech.” And there are plans for more picketing: The Writers Guild of America East announced that it will protest outside the entrance to ABC’s offices in Manhattan on Friday to “demand ABC bring back Jimmy Kimmel Live! and to fight to protect free speech.”

    The Hulk actor quoted a post about how Disney’s stock is reportedly down 7% and points out how much worse it can get financially. He writes, “It’s going to go down a lot further if they cancel his show. Disney does not want to be the ones that broke America.”

    Nixon shared a video of herself canceling her Hulu and Disney+ subscription in solidarity with Kimmel. She explained how she let the streamers know the reasoning behind her decision. The HBO star said, “They asked me why and I hit other and I wrote, ‘Because I believe in the First Amendment, reinstate Jimmy Kimmel now.’” She then named Abbott Elementary and Only Murders in the Building as shows her family would miss but they would miss the First Amendment more.

    While it looks like Centineo might’ve bought a Disney+ subscription just to cancel it, he’s standing in solidarity with the boycott. How else is The Fosters star supposed to participate if he didn’t have a subscription to begin with?

    The Supernatural actor posted that he will be canceling his Disney+ subscription “indefinitely,” following the same language as the original Kimmel suspension.

    Maslany, who plays the titular role in Disney+’s She-Hulk, encouraged more than half a million followers to cancel their subscriptions to Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN in a September 18 Instagram Story.

    While calls to boycott Disney have spread, including from action group 50501, Lindelof is the first creative to publicly threaten to boycott working with the company entirely until Jimmy Kimmel Live! returns. “I was shocked, saddened and infuriated by yesterday’s suspension and look forward to it being lifted soon,” Lindelof wrote in a September 18 Instagram post. “If it isn’t, I can’t in good conscience work for the company that imposed it. If you’re about to fire up in my comments, just ask yourself if you know the difference between hate speech and a joke. I think you still do.”

    The Watchmen creator also emphasized his friendship to Kimmel and faith in the host’s patriotism. “I met him for the first time backstage at the ABC upfronts in 2004,” Lindelof wrote. “He had just seen the Lost pilot and dug it. He also said, ‘I hope you guys know what you’re doing.’” He added that, “In the twenty years since, I’ve gotten to know Jimmy and if you know Jimmy, you know his incredible wife and head writer, Molly, who is not just his better half but his better three quarters. You also know he is caring and empathic and grateful. You know he loves his country.”

    [ad_2]

    Jason P. Frank

    Source link

  • Video: Trump Escalates Attack on Free Speech

    [ad_1]

    new video loaded: Trump Escalates Attack on Free Speech

    By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Christina Thornell and David Seekamp•

    Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a White House correspondent for The New York Times, describes how the Trump administration’s pressuring of ABC to take action against Jimmy Kimmel is part of a broader crackdown by the administration since the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

    [ad_2]

    Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Christina Thornell and David Seekamp

    Source link

  • Donald Trump is big mad about free speech because 97% of stories about him are bad | The Mary Sue

    [ad_1]

    Donald Trump‘s obsession with being worshipped rather than scrutinized has dragged the United States into a constitutional crisis over its own First Amendment. Free speech is now under siege simply because 97% of news stories about him aren’t flattering.

    In the aftermath of the firing of Jimmy Kimmel, questions are rising regarding the protection of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that safeguards free speech. Even Trump’s usual allies, like conservative firebrand Tucker Carlson, are breaking ranks, condemning a president whose sense of entitlement has blurred the line between personal vendettas and national governance. And Trump’s defense? If the majority of media coverage makes him look bad, it’s no longer free speech.

    The MAGA leader also recently threatened to revoke the licenses of any media networks that air anti-Trump content, because “they’re not allowed to do that.” Now, he’s doubled down, claiming that any free expression critical of him is not speech at all, but “cheating.”

    “I think that reporting has to be at least accurate to an extent… when 97% of the stories are bad about a person, that’s no longer free speech. That’s just cheating. They cheat, and they become members of the Democratic National Committee. That’s what they are.”

    So here’s the double standard: when Trump calls Seth Meyers or Jimmy Fallon “two total losers,” he’s exercising his First Amendment rights. But when Kimmel makes one offhand, distasteful joke about the administration, suddenly, he’s unfit to be on air. And if anyone points to ratings as a factor, Trump and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr made sure to present Kimmel’s firing as a direct punishment for daring to joke about the president and used it as an example to threaten other journalists.

    As the video of his autocratic tantrum went viral on social media, users took a sharp aim at his fragile ego. “Imagine being so thin-skinned you think criticism is unconstitutional,” one user wrote on X, while another schooled him just right to do some self-reflection:

    “First of all, I would be wondering why 97% were bad, and maybe do some self-reflection. Second of all, it is still free speech at 100%. As an aside, I want to see how he got to 97%; that would be a fun spreadsheet to look at.” (via X/@ochoab1)

    If Trump ever took the time to actually read those “97% bad stories,” he might realize that the outrage right now isn’t about him, it’s about how his fragile ego has weaponized a cornerstone of American democracy, making free speech valid only when it flatters him.

    Have a tip we should know? [email protected]

    Image of Kopal

    Kopal

    Staff Writer

    Kopal primarily covers politics for The Mary Sue. Off the clock, she switches to DND mode and escapes to the mountains.

    [ad_2]

    Kopal

    Source link

  • Elon Musk resurfaces Harris’s old call to suspend Trump from Twitter platform amid Kimmel controversy

    [ad_1]

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    Elon Musk resurfaced former Vice President and former Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ years-old call for President Donald Trump’s ban from social media as she claims “free speech” concerns over Jimmy Kimmel being pulled off the air.

    Harris has weighed in on Disney’s decision to pull ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air “indefinitely,” defending Kimmel and slamming what she calls an “outright abuse of power” by the Trump administration.

    “What we are witnessing is an outright abuse of power. This administration is attacking critics and using fear as a weapon to silence anyone who would speak out. Media corporations — from television networks to newspapers — are capitulating to these threats,” Harris wrote on X about Kimmel’s suspension. “We cannot dare to be silent or complacent in the face of this frontal assault on free speech. We, the people, deserve better.”

    Many X users, including Musk, the platform’s owner, were quick to point out Harris’ own past statements, some suggested they appeared to support censorship.

    Musk resurfaced a 2019 tweet by Harris when Trump was serving his first time. Harris, a U.S. senator representing California at the time, was running for vice president when she made the post on X, now Twitter. 

    “Look let’s be honest, @realDonaldTrump’s Twitter account should be suspended,” Harris wrote on Sept. 30, 2019. 

    DISNEY’S JIMMY KIMMEL BENCHING PROMPTS CELEBRATION, BUT ALSO CAUTION, FROM CONSERVATIVES

    Jimmy Kimmel, left, was pulled from ABC over his remarks on Charlie Kirk. (Melissa Majchrzak/AFP via Getty Images; Michael Le Brecht/Disney via Getty Images)

    Musk re-posted the message on Friday, adding a thinking face emoji. 

    Kimmel’s show was pulled after he accused conservatives of reaching “new lows” in trying to pin a left-wing ideology on Tyler Robinson, who is accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk, even though prosecutors reaffirmed those ties in an indictment.

    “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said, sparking outrage.

    There have been several questions about the role the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) played in the suspension. Those questioning the move are on both sides of the aisle, with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, warning conservatives that they “will regret” setting the precedent.

    “What he is saying is Jimmy Kimmel was lying. That’s true, he was lying, and lying to the American people is not in the public interest,” Cruz said on an episode of his podcast. “He threatens explicitly — we’re going to cancel ABC News’ license. We’re going to take him off the air, so ABC cannot broadcast anymore … He threatens it.”

    CRUZ WARNS CONSERVATIVES ‘WILL REGRET’ FCC CENSORSHIP PUSH AGAINST ABC, OTHER MEDIA OUTLETS

    Protesters outside Walt Disney Studios

    Around 200 protesters lined up outside of Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California to rail against Disney’s suspension of ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday evening. (Christina House / Getty)

    FCC Chairman Brendan Carr joined Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Sept. 17, the day the suspension was announced, and defended the move.

    “Broadcasters are different than any other form of communication,” Carr said, pointing to affiliate groups like Nexstar and Sinclair that announced they would no longer carry “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” He argued that local stations acted appropriately, saying they were “standing up to serve the interests of their community.” 

    “Over the years, the FCC walked away from enforcing that public interest obligation,” Carr said. “I don’t think we’re better off as a country for it.”

    FCC CHAIR BRENDAN CARR DEFENDS ABC AFFILIATES PULLING JIMMY KIMMEL SHOW AFTER MONOLOGUE ABOUT CHARLIE KIRK

    Former VP Kamala Harris, Jimmy Kimmel, Elon Musk

    Elon Musk resurfaced a 2019 tweet in which then-Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., urged Twitter to take down President Donald Trump’s account. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images; Randy Holmes/ABC via Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

    White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Saturday that the decision to “fire Jimmy Kimmel and to cancel his show came from executives at ABC.”

    “That has now been reported,” Leavitt said. “And I can assure you it did not come from the White House and there was no pressure given from the president of the United States.” 

    The Biden-Harris administration has seen its share of censorship controversies, particularly in its interactions with social media companies during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

    During a 2021 press conference, then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the administration was “flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation.”

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    In August 2024, just ahead of the presidential election, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted in a letter that the Biden-Harris administration pressured Facebook to censor Americans.

    Zuckerberg made the admission in a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, more than a year after providing the committee with thousands of documents as part of its investigation into content moderation on online platforms.

    Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

    Rachel Wolf is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and FOX Business.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Jimmy Kimmel and Disney Begin Talks to Revive His Show

    [ad_1]

    A lot’s happened in the two days since Disney indefinitely paused Jimmy Kimmel Live, but the two parties may be on the path to reconciliation.

    According to a Friday report from Variety, Kimmel’s legal and business representatives are “deep in discussions” with ABC to bring the show back, or at the very least, find a compromise to allow the show’s return. Kimmel himself has been silent since his show was shelved after Nexstar, one of the biggest TV station owners in the U.S., vowed to pre-empt airings and Sinclair, another equally big station owner, threatened to take the late night series off its stations entirely.

    Both companies were spurred to halt Jimmy Kimmel Live after FCC chairman Brendan Carr threatened to take action against ABC for Kimmel’s comments on the death of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, where he said conservatives were using the death (and the subsequent capture of Kirk’s alleged killer, Tyler Robinson) to gain political points. Nexstar’s currently in a bid to acquire fellow TV station owner Tegna, which requires FCC approval, something Nexstar insists had no bearing on its decision. Sinclair, meanwhile, had a list of demands before allowing Kimmel back on its stations, including a public apology and personal donation to both Kirk’s family and Turning Point USA, his organization now run by his widow, Erika.

    Variety’s report notes Kimmel is aware of the effect this shutdown has on his staff, some of which remain impacted by the 2023-2024 Hollywood strikes. Deadline separately reported the show’s crew will be paid next week, a potential sign of where things are headed. Nothing is set in stone yet, though Kimmel remains employed by Disney as the host of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and other projects, which will likely be impacted by the Live decision.

    Regardless of which way the wind blows, the pause of Kimmel’s show has spurred a wave of reactions. While conservatives have cheered the show’s currently indefinite hiatus, there’ve been protests in recent days in front of Disney’s New York and Burbank offices, and in front of the theater where the show is filmed. Several actors and creators who’ve previously worked with Disney have come out in support of Kimmel, and Andor writer Dan Gilroy penned a short Deadline column condemning Disney’s actions, while former CEO Michael Eisner called out current head Bob Iger for succumbing to the FCC’s “out of control intimidation.” There’s also been a wave of cancelled Disney+ subscriptions and those for other affiliated networks.

    io9 will continue covering the Jimmy Kimmel situation as it develops.

    Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

    [ad_2]

    Justin Carter

    Source link

  • Trump ramps up criticism of broadcast networks amid Jimmy Kimmel turmoil

    [ad_1]



    Trump ramps up criticism of broadcast networks amid Jimmy Kimmel turmoil – CBS News










































    Watch CBS News



    President Trump warned Friday that he may go after more television networks following ABC’s decision to pull late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off air for comments he made about the response to Charlie Kirk’s death.

    [ad_2]
    Source link

  • Bill Maher Defends ‘My Compatriot’ Jimmy Kimmel, Slams ABC and Recalls Getting Fired by the Network: ‘ABC Stands for “Always Be Caving”‘

    [ad_1]

    On HBO’s “Real Time” Friday night, Bill Maher rallied behind Jimmy Kimmel, whose late-night show was suspended this week by ABC, and Maher blasted the Disney-owned network — which more than two decades ago canceled Maher’s “Politically Incorrect” after his comments about the 9/11 attacks.

    At the start of his monologue on “Real Time,” Maher quipped, “I know why you’re happy tonight. I’m still on. Oh, my god. Man, talk show hosts are going down like Blockbusters in the ’90s.”

    Maher then addressed the topic of the week: “Well, I guess you all heard Jimmy Kimmel, my friend, my compatriot. He’s been canned by ABC for comments he made about Charlie Kirk’s assassin.”

    “Jimmy, pal, I am with you, I support you, and on the bright side, you don’t have to pretend anymore that you like Disneyland. That was always a great part of it for me when I got my ass canned over there,” said Maher. He also said, “Jimmy, let me just say, you did a great, funny show for two decades. You should be proud of that. If this firing goes for you the way it did for me, you’ll get 23 years on a better network.”

    In fact, Kimmel has not been “fired.” On Wednesday, ABC said “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was “pre-empted indefinitely.” Variety reported that Kimmel and Disney execs are in talks on a compromise to bring the show back on the air.

    Maher, observing that “life is fucking weird,” noted that Sept. 17 was “24 years to the day that I made comments on ABC that got me canceled from that network and Jimmy Kimmel took my slot… Oh yes, I got canceled before cancel even had a culture.”

    Maher referenced a Variety article from Sept. 30, 2001, headlined, “White House Keeps Heat on ABC’s Maher.” Maher, who said the article is on hung on his wall, said, “This shit ain’t new. It’s worse, we’ll get to that, but you know, ABC, they are steady. ABC stands for ‘Always Be Caving.’”

    In September 2001, after the 9/11 attacks, Maher said on ABC’s “Politically Incorrect” that America had been “cowardly” in its military response unlike the terrorists who flew airplanes into the World Trade Center. “We have been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That’s cowardly,” he said. “Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it’s not cowardly.” In response, advertisers including Sears and FedEx pulled commercials from the show.

    A day later, Maher apologized. “In no way was I intending to say, nor have I ever thought, that the men and women who defend our nation in uniform are anything but courageous and valiant, and I offer my apologies to anyone who took it wrong,” he said. However, while ABC kept “Politically Incorrect” on the air for a time, after continued resistance from advertisers it canceled the show in June 2002.

    RELATED: Jimmy Kimmel and Disney Working to Reach Compromise to Bring His Show Back

    On the HBO show Friday, Maher also referenced the direct threat FCC chairman Brendan Carr made against ABC and its affiliates if they didn’t they didn’t “take action” on Kimmel (i.e., take his show off the air). “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said on a conservative podcast.

    “I am not intimidated by the FCC,” Maher said. (HBO, unlike broadcast TV stations, is not subject to FCC regulatory oversight.) Maher then added: “And if President Trump is watching, I have one thing to say to you. Have you lost weight? You look terrific.”

    Maher went on, “But I mean, this intimidation on the right is just so hypocritical. I mean everyone is scared now, and they’re all trying to kowtow. ‘Good Morning America’ is now changing its name to ‘Good Morning America, Even the Scum Who Didn’t Vote for Trump.’”

    The talk show host said “the FCC says they’re gonna go after maybe next ‘The View.” On Thursday, Carr said on a radio show, “I think it’s worthwhile to have the FCC look into whether ‘The View’ and some of the programs that you have still qualify as bona fide news programs and therefore exempt from the equal opportunity regime that Congress has put in place.” The hosts of ABC’s “The View” did not discuss their network’s suspension of Kimmel on Thursday and Friday broadcasts.

    “I’m friendly with the ladies on ‘The View,’ but they didn’t say anything about this this week, nothing. You know, because it’s never been their thing to weigh in on the issues,” said Maher. “It’s just, you know, it’s just an upbeat party show. That’s why they hired people named Joy [Behar] and Sunny [Hostin] and Whoopi [Goldberg]. Girls, let me tell you: Go out strong, OK? It won’t kill you. I promise! It’s happened to me and I may go out after this show. We don’t know. We do not know.”

    In the wake of Kimmel’s suspension by ABC, other current and former late-night hosts have voiced support for him including Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Jon Stewart and David Letterman.

    — Brian Steinberg contributed to this article.

    [ad_2]

    Todd Spangler

    Source link

  • In Defense of Jimmy Kimmel’s Stupid Words | Opinion

    [ad_1]

    Jimmy Kimmel said something dumb. He joked that the gunman who tried to assassinate Charlie Kirk was “one of them,” meaning a conservative.

    That remark was stupid, careless, and offensive to at least half the country, myself included. But the shooter’s politics are as relevant as Charlie Kirk’s politics—in that they are not. Yes, the shooter was comfortable with guns and in a relationship with a trans person in the middle of transitioning. None of these facts are relevant. Like many ordinary Americans, he probably holds ideas that contradict the doctrine of either political party. To blame the Left or the Right for this lone-wolf act is total surface-level mentality. You are just phoning it in, missing the complex dynamics for what they really are.

    That goes for Jimmy Kimmel and for anybody who flaps their gums for a living. Jimmy knows better and should apologize. But pulling the show? That is where the real story begins.

    Kimmel made his remark. Then FCC chair Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, publicly warned local ABC affiliates that they could face investigations and even license trouble if they kept airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! Many of these affiliates are mom-and-pop operations held together with shoestring budgets and minimum-wage reporters. Carr basically put those tiny, vulnerable outlets in the crosshairs. Nexstar, the biggest ABC affiliate owner, caught the signal and yanked the show. Within hours ABC and Disney announced an indefinite suspension. From the outside it reads like the nation’s top broadcast cop leaning on the smallest, poorest stations first, triggering a chain reaction that made ABC fold.

    This is where things get dark, and where we should all be worried. The FCC chair crossed the line from free speech into government coercion on behalf of Donald Trump. The U.S. government, at the direction of a president with a long record of punishing critics, has been setting this up for years. It is not a far leap to believe Trump called this shot personally. That is not free speech. That is the president crossing the line into dictatorship.

    Protesters leave their signs on a ledge during a protest against ABC removing Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air in front of the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, Calif., on Sept. 18, 2025.

    Benjamin Hanson / Middle East Images via AFP/Getty Images

    While it is unfortunate that ABC and its affiliates do not show more backbone, Trump’s FCC went after the local station owners threatening to pull their licenses. They have no legal firepower to fight back and it is not even remotely a fair fight. This is a third-world country shakedown, all because someone who talks for a living said something stupid.

    Free speech has become a major liability in a disgustingly litigious society. Say something offensive and the Left might cancel you, and now the Right might cancel you too—unless you are Brian Kilmeade of Fox News suggesting that homeless people be euthanized.

    Kilmeade quickly apologized, so it’s all good now. But if Kimmel is going down for saying that Charlie Kirk’s shooter was a conservative, then Kilmeade should definitely have gone down for suggesting we murder homeless people. Or we can realize, like adults, that people who talk all day are bound to say stupid things sometimes. Own the moment, apologize, move on, and do not do it again. Only a clear pattern should cost someone their job.

    Meanwhile Trump has sued The New York Times for $15 billion for daring to question his propaganda, and demanded up to $20 billion from CBS before settling for a tiny fraction. This is not about money. It is about using the full force of the executive branch and Trump’s personal lawyers as a battering ram to intimidate institutions. Conservatives who cheer now will regret it when the pendulum swings. A future left-wing president could use the same precedent to target Fox News, Newsmax, or Sinclair under the guise of a revived fairness doctrine.

    All of this points toward a dystopian future where late-night comedians are banned because no one is allowed to poke fun at the president, regardless of who is in office. Trump does it to soothe his ego. Democrats will do it because they see he got away with it. And then there are no more funny talk shows at all.

    Thinking out loud is precisely what free speech is supposed to protect. If we do not defend the rights of people we disagree with, we do not really believe in free speech. Jimmy Kimmel said something stupid and should apologize. That is where this should end. Instead it looks like it is just getting started.

    Jesse Edwards is director of Newsweek Radio & Podcasting, and the host of Newsweek Radio.

    The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Je Suis Jimmy

    [ad_1]

    Illustration: Brian Stauffer

    Like watching Rome burn,” one news anchor said as Donald Trump’s attack on the media industry entered a new phase. The president has never done well with criticism, constantly going after news organizations and private companies and individuals perceived to be insufficiently supportive or ingratiating. “This is the environment that we’re all operating in, and we’ve known this for a while, where, whether it’s legitimate or not, you have the government as an actor trying to control and shape coverage through a combination of means, one of which is threats,” the news anchor said. But lately those threats feel less empty: The assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk has given the administration further opportunity to use its power to influence the media industry and its output — “consequence culture,” as they are calling it. So far, companies have largely shown an unwillingness to fight back. Coincidentally or not, this timidity comes at a moment of intense consolidation in the business, as David Ellison, right after taking over Paramount, sets his sights on Warner Bros. Discovery, with help from father Larry, a recent Trump ally who is expected to be a major investor in the American-owned version of TikTok.

    On Wednesday, September 17, FCC chairman Brendan Carr dangled the possibility of punishing ABC over remarks Jimmy Kimmel had made days before about Kirk’s assassination; the late-night host had suggested “the MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.” It happened quickly from there: Nexstar, which owns numerous ABC affiliates throughout the country, said it would pull Kimmel’s show from the airwaves; within minutes, Sinclair, another owner of ABC affiliates, followed suit; then an ABC spokesperson told the press that new episodes of Jimmy Kimmel Live! would be “preempted indefinitely.” Trump and Carr took a victory lap, and the president seemed to suggest a similar fate for NBC late-night stars Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers. On Thursday, Trump, who earlier in the week had sued the New York Times for $15 billion over articles questioning his success, issued another threat, musing that networks giving him negative coverage deserve to have their licenses revoked.

    Inside the media and entertainment companies, the mood among those creating the content under attack is somber. “I haven’t seen a lot of comedy writers or hosts choosing to censor themselves after watching our colleagues get literally canceled. It’s more that we’re horrified and embarrassed by the cowardice of the networks and the choices they’re making,” said a writer for a late-night show. “The people who have the most money and power are the first to give up, and frankly that should be mortifying for them.” Said another late-night writer: “The broadcast networks are beholden to Trump’s FCC in a way cable channels aren’t, but that’s hardly reassuring.” (Cable channels, unlike broadcast, do not use public airwaves and therefore don’t require FCC licenses.)

    The decision to pull Kimmel off the air came two months after CBS, following its settlement of a lawsuit with Trump, canceled Stephen Colbert’s show. The latter move at least appeared couched in financial reasons, some insiders I spoke to noted; The Late Show With Stephen Colbert was expensive to produce — more than $100 million a year — and reportedly ran tens of millions of dollars in the red. “We had no idea how much of it was business motivated,” a late-night staffer said of the Colbert decision. “But this is just cut and dry.” As one prominent talent executive put it: “The FCC commissioner threatened ABC and its station partners, and the station partners and ABC took an action based on that threat. It’s never been that clear before.”

    Pulling Kimmel was a decision that came from the very top of Disney with CEO Bob Iger and head of television Dana Walden reportedly fielding concerns from advertisers and affiliates. Kimmel had planned to address Carr’s comments on air Wednesday night, but Walden and other senior executives feared that would further inflame the situation, especially as staff on Kimmel’s show had been doxed and received threatening emails, according to The Wall Street Journal. Nexstar, for its part, denied that its decision was influenced by Carr’s remarks or FCC pressure, but, notably, the conglomerate is in the midst of trying to get a $6.2 billion merger with Tegna approved by the agency. “No one is confused — this is all about Tegna and Sinclair’s regulatory approval,” said another talent executive. “It’s super-specific. But it has real impact if it’s not limited in scope.” Multiple executives across television and print publishing said the focus is on ensuring their staffers can continue doing the work. “This is just the latest, right? We are just keeping our heads down and doing reporting,” said one.

    At all levels of the industry, the question hung in the air of whether this moment marks a turning point. On Thursday, Carr told CNBC, “We’re not done yet,” and suggested The View, another ABC program, could be subject to review. “Clients are scared for what it suggests is to come. If Kimmel can get fired for that, what might they get fired for?” said another prominent talent executive. Late-night writers are also in a precarious position. “Our show is not in a position to pretend nothing happened in the way that others might be able to,” said one. “If our format didn’t demand it, I think some people who work here would feel safer not putting a target on their backs by commenting on it — which is the point of political censorship.” This writer described feeling newly paranoid: “I haven’t liked or shared any political commentary on social media since Kirk’s killing last week. It all feels like evidence that could be used in bad faith for some future persecution.”

    Many feel something fundamental is changing in the industry. “The consolidation happening in the media world is incredibly unhelpful to this. Everyone feels like there’s no safe space, no corporate parent that’s going to stand up for you or protect you,” said the news anchor. “I don’t know that anybody knows how it’s going to end, but I think everybody recognizes the danger that we’re all in.” The Ellisons loom large with reported plans to acquire the Free Press and possibly put founder Bari Weiss in a leadership role atop CBS News. A Warner Bros. Discovery deal would give the family control over CNN too. Some see media companies’ capitulation as yet another indication of their waning power — that in an effort to slow down their decline, they’ve accelerated it. “They’re continuing to remind the audience and the population of their growing irrelevance,” said one network executive. “Personally, I would be a lot more concerned if Jimmy Kimmel got canceled from YouTube.”

    For now, there haven’t been explicit directives for journalists or late-night writers to pull punches. But the menacing environment is impossible to ignore. “It’s front of mind, and front of coverage, and you’re living it while also reporting on it,” said a veteran news editor at the New York Times. Still, the Times, in the face of Trump’s suit, finds itself in a better position than other organizations Trump has picked on. “We do not have millions of dollars of research grants from the federal government. We do not need to do business in front of the courts. We are one of the few institutions in America that he has no leverage over,” a Times reporter noted.

    Times executives have come out forcefully in response to the lawsuit. Publisher A. G. Sulzberger called it “frivolous,” and CEO Meredith Kopit Levien described it as an authoritarian-like attempt to intimidate independent journalists. (A federal judge essentially agreed, calling the suit “improper and impermissible” as filed.) “The New York Times will not be cowed by this,” she said. “A.G. is the person who I feel like was kind of made for this moment and is increasingly alone in this industry,” said the veteran news editor. “In the past, we could, you know, join with the Washington Post and the L.A. Times, put out a statement about this. It does feel increasingly singular and not in a good way.”


    See All



    [ad_2]

    Charlotte Klein

    Source link

  • 9/19: CBS Mornings Plus

    [ad_1]

    Jimmy Kimmel suspension ignites free speech debate. Also, Kaitlin Butts on TikTok anthem success.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Bill Maher Voices Support For Jimmy Kimmel, Compares It To His ‘Politically Incorrect’ Cancellation: “ABC Stands For Always Be Caving”

    [ad_1]

    This week, Bill Maher walked out in front of his live audience to a standing ovation, as the Real Time with Bill Maher host addressed ABC‘s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, comparing it to his own cancellation over two decades ago by the same network.

    “I know why you’re happy tonight: I’m still on,” the late-night host said before beginning his monologue.

    Maher continued, “Talk show hosts are going down like Blockbusters in the ’90s … Let me just tell you something, I am not intimidated by the FCC, and if President Trump is watching, I have one thing to say to you: Have you lost weight? You look terrific,” to audience cheers and laughs.

    “No, that’s not me, and never will be,” Maher added, “but life is f—ing weird. It was 24 years to the day that I made comments on ABC that got me canceled from that network, and Jimmy Kimmel took my slot at Politically Incorrect. I got canceled before cancel even had a culture.” (In the aftermath of 9/11, Maher disagreed with the suggestion that the perpetrators were “cowards,” arguing instead that the U.S. was cowardly for “lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away.” The comments caused an uproar, leading to major sponsors pulling their ads and local affiliates yanking the program. Afterward, as Maher mentioned, Kimmel was brought in to fill ABC’s late-night role.)

    Maher’s support for his colleague comes after multiple late-night hosts — from David Letterman to Seth Meyers to Jay Leno — decried ABC’s preemption of Jimmy Kimmel Live! as an infringement on free speech following host Jimmy Kimmel’s joke about Donald Trump‘s seeming lack of grief over the killing of ultra right-wing spokesman Charlie Kirk: “We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it,” he had said, in part.

    ABC’s indefinite suspension of the program came after FCC chair Brendan Carr threatened action over the joke — which poked fun at Trump being in the “construction” stage of grief for his segueing from a reporter’s question about how he is “holding up” into the remodeling being done on the White House ballroom — and following Nexstar, the largest TV station group in the country, pulling the show for the “foreseeable future.” The company later clarified it did so “unilaterally” sans FCC pressure. Meanwhile, Sinclair Broadcast Group, the second largest national station operator and largest owner of ABC affiliate stations, said it would not lift the suspension until Kimmel had apologized to Kirk’s family and made a “meaningful donation” to his conservative nonprofit organization Turning Point USA. As such, the company replaced its Kimmel slot with a tribute to Kirk.

    Meanwhile, as Trump celebrated the news, implying that Meyers and Jimmy Fallon are next up for removal, Democratic leaders penned a joint statement over the matter, as the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee vowed he would launch a formal investigation. In Hollywood, guilds have reacted with fervor, with writers and actors protesting at the Disney lot in Burbank, and top talent — from Damon Lindelof to She-Hulk star Tatiana Maslany — either announcing they will not work with Disney in the aftermath or calling for consumer boycotts of properties like Hulu and Disney+. Andor writer and recently minted Emmy winner Dan Gilroy penned a guest column in Deadline denouncing the “venomous evil” and governmental “siege.”

    The move by ABC was also blasted by leading conservatives like Ted Cruz and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner. In the latest development today, an ABC Sacramento affiliate, the site of a protest the day prior, was hit with gunfire; no one was injured.

    “This sh– ain’t new; it’s worse, we’ll get to that, but ABC, they are steady,” Maher said. “ABC stands for Always Be Caving. So, Jimmy, pal, I am with you, I support you, and on the bright side, you don’t have to pretend anymore that you like Disneyland.”

    Maher continued in his monologue, calling the “intimidation on the right” “so hypocritical.” He made several jokes about corporate kowtowing, including how Good Morning America has changed its name to add the postscript “even the scum who didn’t vote for Trump” and that next year’s Golden Bachelor will be Rudy Giuliani. He added that even Wolf Blitzer would be reporting from “The Capitulation Room” (CNN’s program, with Blizter and Pamela Brown, is called The Situation Room).

    During the show, Maher called out the hosts of The View for ignoring Kimmel’s sidelining for the second day in a row “you know, ’cause it’s never been their thing to weigh in on the issues … it’s just an upbeat party show — that’s why they hired people named Joy [Behar] and Sunny [Hostin] and Whoopi [Goldberg].” (Yesterday, Carr threatened regulatory scrutiny on the talk show, citing the FCC’s equal time rule as his reason for considering such action.)

    Maher noted that he didn’t think what Kimmel said “was exactly right,” but maintained he “doesn’t deserve to lose his job over it.”

    He added, “It is a fool’s errand to try to say that these nuts who do these things are any ‘team’ … This kid [alleged Kirk shooter Tyler Robinson] is in his basement with VR goggles on, getting virtually ass-f—ed by a cartoon wombat [via the game Furry Shades of Gay 3: Still Gayer], and you’re gonna put politics into this? This kid doesn’t belong in either party, he belongs in a straitjacket.”

    Concluding, Maher addressed Kimmel directly: “Pal, you did a great, funny show for two decades; you should be proud of that. If this firing goes for you the way it did for me, you’ll get 23 years on a better network.”

    [ad_2]

    Natalie Oganesyan

    Source link

  • Commentary: If he ever gets his job back, I have just the hat for Jimmy Kimmel, thanks to Trump

    [ad_1]

    These are dark times, the average cynic might argue.

    But do not despair.

    If you focus on the positive, rather than the negative, you’ll have to agree that the United States of America is on top and still climbing.

    Yes, protesters gathered Thursday outside “Jimmy Kimmel Live” in Hollywood to denounce ABC’s suspension of the host and President Trump’s threat to revoke licenses from networks that criticize him, despite repeated vows by Trump and top deputies to defend free speech.

    You can call it hypocrisy.

    I call it moxie.

    And by the way, demonstrators were not arrested or deported, and the National Guard was not summoned (as far as I know).

    Do you see what I mean? Just tilt your head back a bit, and you can see sunshine breaking through the clouds.

    Let’s take the president’s complaint that he read “someplace” that the networks “were 97% against me.” Some might see weakness in that, or thin skin. Others might wonder where the “someplace” was that the president discovered his TV news favorability rating stands at 3%, given that he could get caught drowning puppies and cheating at golf and still get fawning coverage from at least one major network.

    But Trump had good reason to be grumpy. He was returning from a news conference in London, where he confused Albania and Armenia and fumbled the pronunciation of Azerbaijan, which sounded a bit more like Abracadabra.

    It’s not his fault all those countries all start with an A. And isn’t there a geography lesson in it for all of us, if not a history lesson?

    We move on now to American healthcare, and the many promising developments under way in the nation’s capital, thanks to Trump’s inspired choice of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as chief of the Department of Health and Human Services.

    Those who see the glass half empty would argue that Kennedy has turned the department into a morgue, attempting to kill COVID-19 vaccine research, espousing backwater views about measles, firing public health experts, demoralizing the remaining staff and rejecting decades worth of biomedical advances despite having no medical training or expertise.

    But on the plus side, Kennedy is going after food dyes.

    It’s about time, and thank you very much.

    I’m not sure what else will be left in a box of Trix or Lucky Charms when food coloring is removed, but I am opposed to fake food coloring, unless it’s in a cocktail, and I’d like to think most Americans are with me on this.

    Also on the bright side: Kennedy is encouraging Americans to do chin-ups and pushups for better health.

    Are you going to sit on the radical left side of your sofa and gripe about what’s happened to your country, or get with the program and try to do a few pushups?

    OK, so Trump’s efforts to shut down the war on cancer is a little scary. As the New York Times reported, on the chopping block is development of a new technique for colorectal cancer prevention, research into immunotherapy cancer prevention, a study on improving childhood cancer survival rates, and better analysis of pre-malignant breast tissue in high-risk women.

    But that could all be fake news, or 97% of it, at least. And if it’s not?

    All that research and all those doctors and scientists can apply for jobs in other countries, just like all the climate scientists whose work is no longer a national priority. The more who leave, the better, because the brain drain is going to free up a lot of real estate and help solve the housing crisis.

    Thank you, President Trump.

    Is it any wonder that Trump has been seen recently wearing a MAGA-red hat that says “TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!”

    Well, mostly everything.

    Climate change appears to be real.

    The war in Ukraine didn’t end as promised.

    The war in the Middle East is still raging.

    Grocery prices did not go down on day one, and some goods cost more because of tariffs.

    As for the promise of a new age of American prosperity, there’s no rainbow in sight yet, although there is a pot of gold in the White House, with estimates of billions in profits for Trump family businesses since he took office,

    But for all of that, along with an approval rating that has dropped since he took office in January, Trump exudes confidence. So much so that he proudly wears that bright red hat, which he was giving out in the Oval office, and which retails for $25.

    It’s another ingenious economic stimulation plan.

    And there’s an important lesson here for all of us.

    Never admit defeat, and when things don’t go your way, stand tall, adjust your hat, and find someone to blame.

    We should all have our own hats made.

    Doctors could wear hats saying they’ve never gotten a diagnosis wrong.

    Dentists could wear hats saying they’ve never pulled the wrong tooth.

    TV meteorologists could wear hats saying — well, maybe not — that they’ve gotten every forecast right.

    I’m having hats made as you read this.

    LOPEZ IS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!

    Please don’t have me fired, Mr. President, if you disagree.

    As for Jimmy Kimmel, I’m offering this idea free of charge:

    If you ever get your job back, you, your sidekick Guillermo, and the entire studio audience should be wearing hats.

    KIMMEL WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!

    Steve.lopez@latimes.com

    [ad_2]

    Steve Lopez

    Source link

  • Disney Faces Protests in Burbank After Jimmy Kimmel Suspension

    [ad_1]

    As the late-night TV host is indefinitely suspended, many are fighting back

    Jimmy Kimmel on August 7
    Credit: Los Angeles file photo

    After ABC indefinitely pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! from the air, hundreds answered a last-minute call Thursday to gather outside of Disney’s office in Burbank to protest the decision. 

    Hours before filming the Jimmy Kimmel Live! episode for Wednesday night, Disney CEO Bob Iger and executive Dana Walden decided to “preempt” the show that night. In order to mitigate any damage thrown down on them, after facing threats from the FCC chairman, Brendan Carr. 

    On Monday night during Kimmel’s monologue, the host said, “We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it.” 

    Two days later, Carr would go on Benny Johnson’s podcast, a right-wing commentator, to criticize the host’s remarks and give a warning to ABC. The company has a “a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest,” Carr said. 

    “But frankly, when you see stuff like this, I mean, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” he said. 

    In response to the threat, ABC indefinitely pulled the late-night talk show. Nexstar, one of the largest station owners in the United States, announced it would drop the show on its 32 affiliate channels shortly before ABC did. 

    Many of the protestors in Burbank are not just showing up for Kimmel, but also looking out for other broadcast and free speech-related issues.

    Scroll to continue reading