ABC Halts Jimmy Kimmel Live! Amid Controversy
On a recent Wednesday, ABC made the decision to indefinitely suspend the broadcasting of new episodes of Jimmy Kimmel Live! This came as a result of a reaction to Kimmel’s comments concerning the accused attacker of Charlie Kirk, which ignited significant furor amongst the right-wing audience, and drew attention from FCC Chair, Brendan Carr. Kimmel finds himself facing this predicament from merely setting up a joke, not even delivering the punchline.
In the monologue of the show that aired on Monday, Kimmel made a statement saying, ‘This past weekend, we witnessed new depths being reached by the MAGA supporters who unrelentingly try to portray the young murderer of Charlie Kirk as anyone but one of their own, while at the same time, employing every strategy to extract political mileage out of it.’ This became a controversial topic of discussion.
During an interaction with YouTuber Benny Johnson, Brenden Carr stated he was considering the revocation of ABC’s affiliate licenses because of Kimmel’s allusion that Charlie Robinson was associated with the MAGA movement. Brendan Carr expressed his opinion, stating, ‘We’re looking at an orchestrated attempt by Jimmy Kimmel to align this as a MAGA-inspired or Republican-motivated individual’.
Lots of individuals underestimate or muddle the reality that broadcasting licenses are conferred by us at the FCC, and along with it, is an inherent responsibility to serve in public interest. Upon seeing incidents like these, our conclusion is that it could go one of two ways. Either these companies can arrange for amendments in behavior, especially concerning Kimmel, or they could be looking at additional work involving the FCC in the future.
In response to Carr’s threats, ABC along with the media company Nexstar seemed to decide in favor of a less confrontational route. Nexstar took the initial step announcing that it would preload Jimmy Kimmel Live! on its partner stations, and ABC followed suit soon after by announcing its suspension of new episodes of the show.
Former President Trump welcomed this news with a public celebratory statement on Truth Social. His statement read, ‘This is fantastic news for America: The Jimmy Kimmel Show, which was struggling with ratings, is now CANCELLED. Kudos to ABC for finally gathering the courage to take the necessary course of action. Kimmel has no talent whatsoever, and his ratings are even lower than Colbert, if you can imagine that.’
Meanwhile, Ben Stiller, Senator Adam Schiff of California, and California Governor Gavin Newsom were among those who showed their support for Kimmel, strongly opposing both Carr’s comments and ABC’s decision to suspend Kimmel’s show. There were also public statements made by the WGA and the American Federation of Musicians in defense of their union’s members.
According to the American Federation of Musicians, the issue at hand isn’t complex.’ Trump’s FCC located speech it disagreed with and leveled severe threats at ABC’, stated AFM. ‘This amounts to censorship imposed by the state.’
The WGA’s statement criticized both the government and the broadcasting network. In their statement, they said, ‘Freedom to vocalize our thoughts, to disagree with each other, to provoke, even, is a central tenet of what forms the core of our understanding of a free society. This freedom is unquestionable and inalienable. It cannot be taken away, not by aggressive force, not by authoritarian misuse of power, not by actions stemming from corporate fear.’
In a rather stern tone, the WGA wrote, ‘Shame onto those in government who have let go of this core founding value. In relation to our employers, our words have enriched you. To silence us is to let the world suffer a great loss. The WGA firmly stands by Jimmy Kimmel and his team of writers.’