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Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show was taken off the air just hours after the U.S. government threatened to revoke broadcasting licenses due to the host’s recent monologue. In his comments, Kimmel had criticized President Donald Trump’s response to the killing of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk. This swift action by network ABC has been widely condemned as government censorship by critics, while it was celebrated by Donald Trump on his social media page.
The Spark of the Controversy
The incident began after Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue on Monday, where he spoke about the death of Charlie Kirk. Kimmel showed a clip of Trump discussing the tragedy but then quickly pivoting to boast about a new ballroom he was building. Kimmel quipped that Trump was grieving “like a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.” In response, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) openly threatened the broadcasting licenses of ABC affiliates that ran the show, saying they risked “license revocation.”
The Implications of the Decision
Following the FCC chairman’s comments, Nexstar, a major owner of ABC affiliate stations, removed the show from its channels. ABC then followed suit by pulling the show nationwide. This move has been seen by Democrats and other critics as a dangerous act of coordinated censorship, and it has fueled concerns about a a government that uses its power to silence dissenting voices. The article notes that this is not an isolated incident, as Trump has previously celebrated the cancellation of other comedians who have mocked him.
