ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel's show off the air yesterday, shortly after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr urged the Disney-owned company to take action against Kimmel or face consequences at the FCC over Kimmel's comments about Charlie Kirk's killer.
Carr appeared on right-wing commentator Benny Johnson's podcast yesterday and said, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly on Kimmel, or there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead." Carr urged Disney to suspend Kimmel and said broadcast stations that carry ABC content should refuse to carry Kimmel's show.
After Carr's comments and a statement by Nexstar that it would preempt Kimmel's show on its ABC-affiliated stations, ABC confirmed in a statement that "Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be preempted indefinitely." The decision was made by Disney CEO Robert Iger and TV division head Dana Walden, The New York Times reported. We contacted ABC today and will update this article if we get a response.
Several House Democratic leaders accused Carr of "engag[ing] in the corrupt abuse of power. He has disgraced the office he holds by bullying ABC, the employer of Jimmy Kimmel, and forcing the company to bend the knee to the Trump administration. FCC Chair Brendan Carr should resign immediately." The top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee plans an investigation.
Anna Gomez, the only Democrat on the Republican-majority FCC, said the Kimmel suspension is "cowardly corporate capitulation by ABC that has put the foundation of the First Amendment in danger." She said the "FCC does not have the authority, the ability, or the constitutional right to police content or punish broadcasters for speech the government dislikes," but that "billion-dollar companies with pending business before the agency" are "vulnerable to pressure to bend to the government's ideological demands."