Since the chairman of the Federal Communications Committee, Brendan Car, he attacked the presenter late Wednesday night on his comments on the assassination of conservative activist, ABC executives and the parent company Disney knew they were facing a big problem.
It is recalled that Kimmel, during his broadcast Monday, criticized how some other Republicans reacted to the fatal armed attack on Kerk. Brendan Carr replied that the Federal Communications Committee (FCC) could take action against the broadcast licenses of the ABC stations.
Sinclair and Nexstar executives, owners of more than 60 ABC local stations, told the Network leaders after KAR’s comments that they would “suspend” the start of the show that night that would limit the program.
Kimmel’s scheduled reply
According to the Wall Street Journal, in its broadcast on Wednesday night, citing sources who know the issue. Prior to Kimmel’s appearance in the air, Dana Walden, a co -chair of Disney Entertainment, discussed with the presenter his plan to answer, the same sources said.
After the discussion between Kimmel and Walden, she and other senior executives thought that the star’s approach could aggravate the situation. Executives also discussed the issue of staff security, as Kimimel’s broadcast officials had already received threatening e-mail after Kar’s comments, and saw their personal information posted online.
Walden met with her team and Disney Managing Director Bob Iger, before the two executives decide to stop, at least, temporarily stop the show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, Sources said. He then informed Kimmel about the decision.
A man near the show said that Kimmel was planning to say that his words were deliberately distorted by some members of the Make America Great Again movement.
Issues faced by media owners on Trump
Media owners are facing complex political and commercial issues during the Trump government. The US president has a particular influence on companies depending on federal radio frequencies, which are regulated by FCC or needing the organization’s approval for agreements.
“We arrived at a new low over the weekend, with the Maga gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kerkos as anything other than one of them,” Kimmel told his audience on Monday.
which, he said, was similar to “how a 4 -year -old child mourns a goldfish”.
Some conservatives complained about these comments. Car told conservative Podcaster Benny Johnson that Kimmel appeared to “mislead the American public” and implied that FCC could take action against the broadcasts of the ABC stations.
Car: Nexstar ‘did the right’
After ABC withdrew Kimmel’s broadcast, Car said in a post on X on Wednesday night that “local broadcasting bodies are obliged to serve the public interest” and praised the Nexstar that “did it right”. He also praised Sinclair in a separate post.
President Trump subsequently said on Thursday, speaking to reporters at the Air Force One, that the broadcasting networks that are “against” may address the issue of licensing. “They only give me bad publicity, but they get permission,” he said.
Nexstar, a Dallas -based broadcasting organization, which owns and operates more than 200 local television stations, needs FCC approval for TEGNA acquisition for $ 6.2 billion.
It also needs the service to relax the rules that are currently limiting the percentage that a broadcasting organization can reach 39% of the country’s television households.
“The decision to stop the broadcast of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ It was unilaterally taken by the Nexstar executive team without any communication with the FCC or any government agency before making this decision, “a Nexstar spokesman said.
ABC ads
The ABC, which was in the middle of the design of a live show with Kimmel, who was expected to be filmed in Brooklyn, New York, later this month, hastened to satisfy the advertisers who had paid for ads that would be displayed in episodes.
Advertising buyers said they would probably transfer the money they had committed to broadcasting Kimmel to other programs, with some of them thinking of asking for a refund.
“We live in very worrying and surreal times, which is the only thing I will say now on the subject,” said John Wolk, a member of the Jimmy Kimmel show, post on Facebook on Thursday.
Also, there are a few members of the Hollywood Creator Community who have criticized Disney’s decision to withdraw Kimmel. The unions of actors and producers even issued statements in which they criticize the decision.
Damon Lindelov, a co -creator of ABC’s classic drama, “Lost”, defended Kimmel on Instagram and said he would not want to work for the company that withdrew the air presenter.
“We all see where this is driving, right? We’re talking about controlled media. And that’s not good,” said David Leterman, the former evening show presenter, at an event by Atlantic magazine on Thursday.
The response of the Democrats
On the other hand of the political system, a Democratic Senator accused the Trump government directly for censorship, while former President Barack Obama said he had adopted his own version of Cancel Culture.
At the same time, media critics said that Kimmel’s dismissal, coupled with CBS’s recent decision to cancel his evening show with presenter Trump’s frequent critic Steven Colbert, when her season ended in May 2026, will lead to 2026.
Trump, who applauded the traffic on Truth Social, went a step further, urging NBC to cancel the “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers”. NBCUNIVERSAL spokesman refused to comment.
“I think the degree of media compromise in the future will some degree to a function of the kind of financial punishment that the government can exercise,” said Lee Levine, a retired media lawyer. “Whenever possible punishment was quite significant, during the recent parallel, the network sooner or later succumbed.”
After all, the ABC, late last year, agreed to pay $ 15 million to settle a defamation of Trump’s defamation against the network and George Stefanopoulos.
Earlier this year, Paramount agreed to pay $ 16 million to settle a lawsuit with Trump on an interview on the “60 Minutes” show with former Vice President Kamala Harris. At that time, the FCC was considering its proposed merger with Skydance Media.
Shortly after the settlement, the FCC approved the merger. Carr, who secured concessions from Skydance, including the addition of a mediator to CBS News, said the settlement was not related to approval.
