What we covered here
• Disney’s ABC pulling Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show off the air indefinitely is “not the last shoe to drop,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr said on Fox News today. Carr also praised President Donald Trump for creating a “massive shift” in the media ecosystem.
• A source told CNN that while no decision has been made on how to move forward, Disney is “hopeful” there is path to bring Kimmel’s show back. Kimmel’s contract is up at the end of his current season, taking him through May 2026.
• Kimmel’s show was pulled amid public pressure from Carr and ABC affiliates. The controversy stems from Kimmel’s comments from his Monday night monologue about Charlie Kirk’s suspected killer. Kimmel has not yet commented on the suspension.
Our live coverage of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show being pulled off air has ended for the day. Follow the latest updates or read through the posts below.
Here's what Democratic veterans are saying about ABC pulling Kimmel off air
As celebrities and US politicians have rallied in support of Jimmy Kimmel, Democratic veterans each reacted to the news:
Barack Obama wrote on X: “After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.”
Hillary Clinton told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria: “I think this is a very clear example of using the, the power of the state to suppress speech. It is a direct government action to try to intimidate employers, organizations, corporations, much of which we’ve already seen, to remove an opponent, even though it’s a comic.”
Kamala Harris wrote on X: “We cannot dare to be silent or complacent in the face of this frontal assault on free speech. We, the People, deserve better.”
ABC's decision to pull Kimmel's show had been an issue brewing all week, sources say
The decision to yank Jimmy Kimmel’s show off the air had been brewing all week throughout the executive ranks at Disney and ABC.
According to one of the individuals familiar with the situation, Kimmel’s planned Wednesday monologue as “very hot,” taking aim at the MAGA base. He planned to address the right-wing backlash to his remarks made earlier in the week regarding the politicalization of Charlie Kirk’s killing.
It was then that Disney executives had conversations with Kimmel about “taking down the temperature” of his monologue, according to the individual. Nexstar announced its plan to pul Kimmel’s show at the same time.
While no decision has been made on how to move forward, the source said Disney is “hopeful” there is path to bring Kimmel’s show back.
Democratic governors criticize ABC's pulling of Kimmel’s show
Several governors have declared their disdain and concerns over Disney’s ABC indefinitely pulling Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show off air in response to backlash over comments Kimmel made about right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s suspected killer.
Here’s what some of them said:
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker wrote on X: “A free and democratic society cannot silence comedians because the President doesn’t like what they say. This is an attack on free speech and cannot be allowed to stand. All elected officials need to speak up and push back on this undemocratic act.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul wrote on X: “Freedom of speech must be protected — whether it comes from an individual, a politician, or a comedian. The Trump administration’s effort to silence Jimmy Kimmel is unacceptable.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote on X: “Buying and controlling media platforms. Firing commentators. Canceling shows. These aren’t coincidences. It’s coordinated. And it’s dangerous. The @GOP does not believe in free speech. They are censoring you in real time.”
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein wrote on X: “Our freedom of speech is one of the most precious rights enshrined in our Constitution. People have the right to say what they believe - even when we disagree. Free speech is not limited only to speech that we like.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro wrote on X: “We literally have a President who is more focused on firing Jimmy Kimmel than trying to make your prices at the grocery store go down. His Administration is rolling back your freedom of speech, policing what you say on TV, and ignoring the real challenges people are facing every day.”
“This affects every aspect of free speech”: Demonstrators gather in Burbank to protest show suspension
Crowds gathered outside the Disney studio in Burbank, California, today to protest the network pulling Jimmy Kimmel’s show off the air.
CNN’s Natasha Chen is on the ground. Here’s what protestors are saying:
David Reed, Writers Guild of America member, called Kimmel’s show suspension “horrifying,” but said he is not surprised by the move because “it feels like just another red line that’s been crossed after so many others.”
He told CNN that he canceled his Disney+ subscription in protest of ABC’s decision and that he knows many others who followed suit.
Actor Jake Ferree also canceled his Disney+ subscription to stand in solidarity with his fellow entertainers. While holding a sign that read “Disney stop bowing to a dictator,” he told CNN that ABC’s move has repercussions.
“This affects every aspect of free speech,” Ferree, who is part of the Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, said. “We should be able to express ourselves. That’s the point of art.”
Taylor Smith, a film production accountant, also warned of the implications that Kimmel’s show suspension has on freedom.
ABC’s decision, she said, isn’t about Kimmel, but more “about our rights being taken away from us in real time.”
The New Yorker just shared its upcoming cover after the Kimmel news
Here’s the next New Yorker magazine cover after Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show was pulled off ABC.
“Remote Control,” is designed by Barry Blitt, according to a statement from the magazine shared with CNN.
It “attempts to capture Donald Trump’s unprecedented series of attacks on the media, destruction of federal programs, and abuses of executive power that have ushered in a new era of political vengeance,” the statement read.
Jimmy Kimmel's show is not "the last shoe to drop," FCC chair says
ABC pulling Jimmy Kimmel’s show off air is not “the last shoe to drop,” warned Brendan Carr, the Federal Communications Commission chair.
“This is a massive shift that’s taking place in the media ecosystem. And I think the consequences are going to continue to flow,” he told Fox News today.
He credited the shift to President Donald Trump.
The public has gotten a “crash course on media law” in the last 24 hours, Carr said.
“The national programmers, Disney, come up with all the programming they want. They are not licensed by FCC, they have no public interest obligation. They can create whatever they want — however good or bad,” Carr said.
However, he said, as local stations are licensed by the FCC and have a public interest obligation to serve local communities, these stations can decide whether the national programmer’s content is in the public interest.
If any programming is disputed, it warrants an FCC complaint, Carr said.
“The last couple of decades, you’ve seen the FCC really step back from enforcing public interest standards, and I don’t think that’s a good thing,” he said. “We’re going back to that era where local TV stations, judging the public interest, get to decide what the American people think.”
"If this was the last word, I’m glad it was mine," says Margo Price, who may be Kimmel's last musical guest
Margo Price performed her song “Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down” on Jimmy Kimmel Live this past Tuesday — it’s possible she might’ve been the last musical performance on the show. Ever.
Price told CNN’s Dana Bash her song was inspired by Kris Kristofferson who reportedly whispered the song’s namesake to Sinead O’Connor after she was shunned and criticized for ripping up a photo of then-Pope John Paul II in protest of the Catholic Church during a “Saturday Night Live” taping in 1992.
“I think this is about free speech and viewpoints and people being able to express those viewpoints, and we’re losing that right, and that’s the very thing that this country was built on,” Price said about her song.
Price’s first TV performance was on the Stephen Colbert show and said these shows are a “platform for music discovery, and especially for artists like me that don’t fit into obvious like genre lanes or molds.”
Price said she has depended on these types of platforms to help launch her career.
“I am grateful that Jimmy let me come on there and sing a song that, you know, maybe is a little controversial, just even with the language inside of it,” Price said. “I was writing about the very thing that is happening today. So it’s kind of eerie.”
Democratic Senators are concerned over late-night hosts, papers, news outlets being "silenced"
Democratic senators have called the decision to indefinitely pull “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from air following backlash over Kimmel’s controversial comments on right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s suspected killer a threat to free speech.
Here’s what some of them said:
Sen. Alex Padilla of California wrote on X: “When late-night hosts, major papers, and trusted news outlets are silenced, it’s not just entertainment and information under attack — it’s free speech.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland wrote on X: “Trump and his cronies are using blatant government coercion to suppress speech they don’t like — a gross violation of the 1st Amendment. Shame on ABC for caving to political blackmail. We must stand with those who resist the bullies and call out those who appease them. NO KINGS.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts wrote on X: “First Colbert, now Kimmel. Last-minute settlements, secret side deals, multi-billion dollar mergers pending Donald Trump’s approval. Trump silencing free speech stifles our democracy. It sure looks like giant media companies are enabling his authoritarianism.”
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington wrote on X: “Yesterday, Trump was threatening a reporter he didn’t like. Today, he coerced ABC to kick Kimmel off the air. He’s also suing NYT & WSJ for reporting the truth. And it’s not just media: he’s threatening private companies, colleges, Congress—everyone. Enough. NONE OF US should cave. We ALL need to push back.”
Clips of Kimmel’s controversial comments on the show’s YouTube channel and ABC website were still available to view online on Thursday afternoon.
CNN’s Riane Lumer contributed to this report.
Jake Tapper reveals another wrinkle in the Kimmel saga
CNN’s Jake Tapper explains the business practices going on as a result of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” being taken off the air and how the Trump administration plays a role in it.
Lone Democrat on FCC rails against chairman’s ABC threats
Anna Gomez, the lone Democratic commissioner on the FCC, railed against chairman Brendan Carr’s threats that led to ABC suspending Jimmy Kimmel.
The FCC, Gomez said Thursday while speaking at Axios’ Media Trends Live event in NYC, “doesn’t have the authority, the ability or the constitutional right to revoke a license because of content like” Kimmel’s Monday evening remarks about Charlie Kirk’s suspected shooter.
“The threat is the point,” she continued. “There is no way that the commission could revoke a license based on something like the Jimmy Kimmel show,” Gomez said. “These threats are truly empty, we don’t have the ability to actually take these actions, but it’s the enforcement threat that is the point.”
“When you see so much capitulation by the corporate parents, it’s really disappointing,” Gomez added, “because every time they capitulate rather than show courage, what they are doing is eroding our democracy on our First Amendment freedoms.”
Jon Stewart hosting "The Daily Show" tonight, presumably to address Kimmel
Jon Stewart normally only hosts “The Daily Show” on Monday nights nowadays, but tonight he is returning to his longtime desk for one Thursday edition, Comedy Central announced this afternoon.
Stewart will presumably have a lot to say about ABC’s decision to bench Jimmy Kimmel, given how outspoken he was about his own parent company Paramount’s cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” over the summer.
The show’s guest will be Maria Ressa, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist who has become a leading global voice against authoritarianism.
FCC chair says it may be "worthwhile" to also probe "The View"
FCC chair Brendan Carr, whose threats to revoke ABC affiliate licenses led to Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension, said Thursday afternoon that it might be “worthwhile” for his agency to target another ABC show: “The View.”
During an interview on CNN commentator Scott Jennings’ radio show, Carr mentioned how the FCC’s “equal opportunity” rule requires stations to grant political candidates comparable airtime. However, most talk shows and late-night programs are exempt under the agency’s “bona fide news” classification.
Carr questioned whether “The View” should continue to qualify for that regulatory exemption.
“I would assume you can make the argument that ‘The View’ is a bona fide news show, but I’m not so sure about that,” Carr said. “And I think it’s worthwhile to have the FCC look into whether ‘The View’ and some of these other programs that you have still qualify as bona fide news programs.”
If “The View” — which has been a frequent target of Trump’s ire for its frequent criticism of him — were stripped of the exemption, it would be forced to significantly alter its format.
David Letterman criticizes ABC’s decision to take Kimmel’s show off the air as “no good”
The iconic David Letterman called ABC’s decision to take Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show off the air indefinitely “no good.”
“I feel bad about this,” he said today at the Atlantic Festival 2025 — a live event about the publication’s journalism that features an array of notable speakers.
“This is misery,” Letterman said.
Kimmel’s show was taken off the air amid public pressure from FCC Chair Brendan Carr and ABC affiliates that stemmed from controversy around his comments during his Monday night monologue about Charlie Kirk’s suspected killer.
Democrats on House committee seek to subpoena Carr
Members of Congress on Thursday discussed bringing in FCC Chair Brendan Carr before the House Oversight Committee to testify in the wake of the Jimmy Kimmel suspension.
Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna sought a subpoena to have Carr testify. But committee chair James Comer, a Republican, said he thought Carr would come in without a subpoena.
“Mr. Chairman, this administration has initiated the largest assault on the First Amendment and free speech in modern history. They’re making comedy illegal,” Khanna said. “Brendan Carr pressured ABC to cancel Jimmy Kimmel, and Disney cancels Jimmy Kimmel. This cancelling from an administration that lectured us about cancel culture.”
But Comer called a motion by Khanna to subpoena Carr unnecessary.
“I don’t think the motion’s necessary, but I think he would, uh, I’m pretty confident he would be willing to come in to testify,” Comer replied.
The committee voted to table the motion.
Trump suggests networks' licenses could be pulled if they air mostly negative coverage of him
President Donald Trump said Thursday he thinks networks’ broadcast licenses could be revoked if they air overwhelmingly negative perspectives on him.
“I read someplace that the networks were 97% against me. I get 97% negative, and yet I won it easily,” he said, referring to the 2024 election. “I won all seven swing states, popular vote, I won everything. And they’re 97% against, they give me wholly bad publicity… I mean, they’re getting a license, I would think maybe their license should be taken away.”
Trump, speaking aboard Air Force One while traveling back from the UK, said he would endorse moves by the Federal Communications Commission to pull licenses, and suggested networks should reapply for them periodically. He added later that not airing conservative views could be rationale for removing networks’ licenses.
“That’s something that should be talked about for licensing, too. When you have a network and you have evening shows and all they do is hit Trump, that’s all they do,” he said. “If you go back, I guess they haven’t had a conservative on in years or something, somebody said, but when you go back and you take a look, all they do is hit Trump. They’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that. They’re an arm of the Democrat Party.”
Trump said he would leave the decision to Brendan Carr, the FCC chairman at the center of this week’s Jimmy Kimmel controversy.
“It will be up to Brendan Carr,” Trump said. “I think Brendan Carr is outstanding. He’s a patriot. He loves our country, and he’s a tough guy.”
What Jimmy Kimmel said after Charlie Kirk was killed
While Jimmy Kimmel has been suspended from ABC amid controversy over his comments about Charlie Kirk’s suspected killer, his first public comments about the right-wing activist’s death were of sympathy for Kirk’s family.
“Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human?” Kimmel posted on social media hours after Kirk was killed. “On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.”
No mention of Jimmy Kimmel on "The View"
ABC’s long-running daytime talk show “The View” on Thursday made no mention of its colleague Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension from his late-night talk show.
In July, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, whose threat against ABC on Wednesday led to the network benching Kimmel, told Fox News that “The View” is “now in the crosshairs of this administration” because of co-host Joy Behar’s scathing criticism of President Trump.
How Jimmy Kimmel became the "mayor" of Hollywood
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is currently the only broadcast network late-night show based in Los Angeles. It films at the historic El Capitan Theater on Hollywood Boulevard.
His vocal support for the city he calls home has made him a bit of a “mayor” in Hollywood. After the California wildfires early this year, during which he and many of his employees had to evacuate, Kimmel used his show to communicate the impact on the region.
“It’s been terrible,” he said tearfully. “Everyone who lives in this city knows someone - most of us multiple people - family, friends, colleagues, neighbors whose house has burned down.”
That type of love is now being returned.
Friends and fans are rallying around Kimmel in the wake of Wednesday’s decision by Disney’s ABC to suspend his show indefinitely amid controversy over his recent comments about reaction to Charlie Kirk’s death.
The decision has been met with backlash in the entertainment community.
Actor and director Jason Bateman, who is a close friend of Kimmel’s, expressed dismay in an interview with “Today.”
Another star, actor Henry Winkler, wrote on X “@jimmykimmel his humor, his insights are important to keep showing us who we are. AND he is a most wonderful fellow.”
“I see we are at the passive participation of authoritarianism now,” actor and “Frozen” actor Josh Gad wrote on Threads. “God help us all.”
Who is Brendan Carr, the attack-dog FCC chair, who threatened ABC over Jimmy Kimmel?
Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr is a long-serving member of the regulator who has become an increasingly visible attack dog for the Trump administration this year.
He is an attorney who joined the FCC as a staffer in 2012 and became a commissioner, appointed by Trump, in 2017. Upon Trump’s reelection, the then-president-elect chose him to chair the regulatory agency.
Carr has been a regular at Mar-a-Lago as well as Fox News, and earlier this year he showed his loyalty to Trump by wearing a gold lapel pin of the president’s face.
He rose to prominence in 2024 after he wrote the chapter on the FCC in the conservative blueprint known as Project 2025. In it, he railed against technology and media companies’ “censorship” of right-wing content and values — and promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion programs. He wrote that among the agency’s top priorities should be “reining in Big Tech.”
He has promised to hold broadcast TV and radio stations accountable, and just one hour after thanking the president for his appointment, Carr wrote on X, “We must dismantle the censorship cartel and restore free speech rights for everyday Americans.”
Since Trump’s election, Carr has gone on the attack, threatening broadcasters with enforcement actions and investigations for perceived slights against Trump and the MAGA movement. He also has an active presence on social media, and is unafraid to make his rooting interests known: Carr initially reacted to the news of ABC’s Kimmel show suspension with a celebratory dancing GIF from “The Office.”
On Thursday morning, he wrote on X that he was “glad to see that many broadcasters are responding to their viewers as intended.”
