ALBAWABA - Trump sparks outrage by threatening TV licenses after Jimmy Kimmel’s firing controversy.
Donald Trump, the president of the US, has said that some TV networks should have their licenses "taken away."
The comments come after the government put pressure on ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel. The late-night host talked about the suspect in the murder of Charlie Kirk. He said that Trump fans had tried to "characterize this kid as anything other than one of them."
Other talk show hosts have talked about the controversy after Kimmel was fired because of the danger of regulatory action. This has led to fears that the Trump administration is trying to limit the free speech of its critics.
"This is blatant censorship," Stephen Colbert said on his rival CBS show. "With an autocrat, you can't give an inch."
"Maga gang" refers to Trump supporters who rallied around his "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan. In his Monday monologue, Kimmel, 57, said that the "Maga gang" was "desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them" and "score political points from it."
Utah police said Kirk was "indoctrinated with leftist ideology" before he was killed.
Trump's response to the death of his 31-year-old political ally was also compared to "how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish" by Kimmel.
Kimmel spoke out against the attack and sent "love" to the Kirk family right after it happened.
Trump told reporters about the problem on Thursday, as he flew back from a state visit to the UK on Air Force One.
"I have read someplace that the networks were 97% against me, again, 97% negative, and yet I won and easily [in last year's election]," he said.
"They only spread bad news about me." They're getting a license, you know. I believe that their license should be taken away.
Brendan Carr, the chair of the FCC, said Kimmel was acting in "the sickest way possible." He also said companies like Disney-owned ABC could "find ways to change conduct and take action... or there's going to be more work for the FCC."
FCC chair Carr said on Thursday, "We're going to continue to hold these broadcasters accountable to the public interest—and if broadcasters don't like that simple solution, they can turn their license in to the FCC."
It is the FCC's job to police both big networks like ABC and the smaller stations that show their shows. Local station owners can also have an effect on big networks by not airing shows.
Soon after Nexstar Media, one of the biggest TV station owners in the US, said it would not air Kimmel's show "for the foreseeable future" because of his "offensive and insensitive" comments, the show was suspended.
As Nexstar asks the FCC for permission to join with Tegna, a different media company, for $6.2bn (£4.5bn), Carr praised it and said he hoped other broadcasters would follow its lead.
The biggest ABC affiliate group in the US, Sinclair, said it would honor Kirk with a special show on Friday during the Jimmy Kimmel Live! time slot.
During a speech at Utah Valley University on September 10, Kirk was shot once in the neck and died.
A man who is 22 years old was charged with murder on Tuesday. They say he was "indoctrinated with leftist ideology" and will be put to death.
Legal experts say that the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects free speech, would stop the FCC from taking away licenses because of political differences.
But Joe Strazullo, who used to write for Jimmy Kimmel Live!, told the BBC that the writers' room was full of fear.
"It's heartbreaking to see the threat of them being out of work," said he. "Nobody knows exactly what's going on still, and they're working things out behind the scenes."
Many writers, actors, and well-known Democrats have spoken out against Kimmel's suspension.
Former US President Barack Obama said that the Trump administration had reached a "new and dangerous level" of cancel culture by regularly threatening to take regulatory action against media companies if they don't fire or silence reporters and commenters it doesn't like.
Late-night talk show stars have backed Kimmel.
Coming up with jokes about how the current administration is limiting free speech was a rare midweek episode of The Daily Show.
Stewart said that he was a "patriotically obedient host" and that his show followed the rules set by the government. After that, he called Trump "dear leader" and said that Trump has been "gracing England with his legendary warmth and radiance."
Stewart later on in the show talked to Maria Ressa. Ressa won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for her work to protect free speech and democracy in the Philippines under Rodrigo Duterte.
Ressa said that what is happening in the US is "the same as what happened in the Philippines." "It's both deja vu and PTSD."
She went on to say, "Americans are like deer caught in headlights." "You lose your rights, and it's much harder to get them back if you don't move and protect them," she said.
Ben Stiller, an actor, said what happened to Kimmel "isn't right." Jean Smart, a star of Hacks, said she was "horrified at the cancellation."
Two Hollywood trade groups, the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild, said that Kimmel's ban was an attack on his constitutional right to free speech.
People participate in a protest (Photo by STEPHANIE KEITH / Getty Images via AFP)
But some people have said that the FCC and ABC did the right thing.
A lot of people find something insulting, rude, or stupid in real time, and then that person is punished for it. "That's not cancel culture," said Dave Portnoy, founder of the media company Barstool Sports.
"That is the consequence for your actions."
Fox late-night show Greg Gutfeld said Kimmel had "deliberately and misleadingly" brought up Kirk's "allies and friends" as the cause of his death.
"Understandable outrage all over America" was what British host Piers Morgan said about Kimmel. "Why is he being heralded as some kind of free speech martyr?" he asked.
But Democrat Anna Gomez, a commissioner on the FCC leadership team with Carr, spoke out against the agency's position.
She told us that "an inexcusable act of political violence by one disturbed individual must never be exploited as justification for broader censorship or control."
