United States President Donald Trump has celebrated the suspension of talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel from the airwaves and said TV broadcasters should lose their licences over negative coverage of his administration, adding fuel to a debate over free speech.
Earlier this week, US broadcaster ABC announced it was pulling the late-night comedy show Jimmy Kimmel Live "indefinitely" following Kimmel's comments after the killing of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk.
During his trip to the United Kingdom, Trump said Kimmel had been punished for saying "a horrible thing" about Kirk.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned to the US, Trump complained about receiving bad publicity from broadcasters, saying: "That's something that should be talked about for licensing... All they do is hit Trump."
"I would think maybe their license should be taken away," Trump said. "It will be up to [Federal Communications Commission chief] Brendan Carr."
US federal law prohibits the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from revoking a broadcaster's licence for negative coverage or other speech disliked by the government.
Not 'the last shoe to drop', says US federal broadcasting chief
Brendan Carr, the head of the FCC, which regulates broadcasters, said Kimmel's axing was part of a "massive shift" taking place in US media.
"I don't think this is the last shoe to drop. This is a massive shift that's taking place in the media ecosystem. The consequences will continue to flow," Carr said in an interview with Fox News.
He praised the owners of local TV stations that broadcast ABC programming for putting the network's owner, Disney, under pressure to take Kimmel off the air.
"We're going to go back to that era when local TV stations, judging the public interest, get to decide what the American people think," Carr said.
"The key point is these were local TV stations, licensed by the FCC, that have a public interest obligation to serve their local community; they pushed back on Disney."
Carr said the federal regulator would be "constraining the power" of large media networks, singling out Disney and Comcast. But in reality, the FCC does not regulate programming on national networks such as ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox — its authority lies in issuing licences to local broadcast affiliates that use the public airwaves.
Comcast, which owns NBC, hosts other late-night programs, including The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers, both of whom Trump called "total losers" in a Truth Social post, calling for their cancellation.
"Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
"That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!"
Trump administration 'silencing its critics'
Walt Disney-owned ABC said it was pulling the show after Kimmel's comments that conservatives were using Kirk's killing to score political points.
Former US president Barack Obama urged media companies not to capitulate to government coercion.
"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," Obama said in a statement.
Writers' and actors' labour unions called the targeting of Kimmel an unconstitutional attack on the right to disagree. The American Civil Liberties Union called it an unconstitutional attempt by the Trump administration to "silence its critics and control what the American people watch and read".
The longest-serving talk show host in the US, David Letterman, also condemned Kimmel's suspension and said ABC was "trying to suck up to an authoritarian criminal administration".
Kimmel is set to meet with Walt Disney executives to discuss the show's future, according to Bloomberg News. The parties will discuss whether there is a way to return "Jimmy Kimmel Live" to the air, the report said.
— Additional reporting by Reuters
