On Wednesday, the television network ABC announced that it is taking Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air “indefinitely.”

What’s happening to Jimmy Kimmel matters whether or not you watch his show — or any other late night program — so please keep reading.

• The supposed reason for Kimmel’s suspension is some comments he made on his show about how the Trump regime is weaponizing the murder of Charlie Kirk. Kimmel didn’t say anything at all about Kirk and, in fact, had condemned his killing.

• Trump’s hand-picked Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair, Brendan Carr, threatened to pull broadcast licenses if ABC and its corporate parent, The Walt Disney Company, did not take action against Kimmel.

• Carr even went on a right-wing podcast and said “we can do this the easy way or the hard way” like some kind of B movie villain.

• It’s worth noting that both Carr and Trump have repeatedly whined about government censorship and supposed attacks on free speech.

• Just last year, Carr complained that “we have been living through a surge in censorship” and added that “any time you have an increase in government control, you necessarily have a decrease in free speech because free speech is the counterweight; free speech is the check on government control.”

• And in his inaugural address this past January, Trump vowed to “immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America.”

The plain reality is that Disney is acting because it was intimidated by Carr. It was also pressured by a company called Nexstar, which owns 33 ABC affiliate stations and which just happens to be seeking approval for a proposed merger from Carr’s FCC.

Look, concentrated corporate ownership has been a problem plaguing American society since the advent of broadcast media. But, outside of wartime, we’ve never seen corporate media cave to state power like it is right now.

We’ve seen it with the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s show. We’ve seen it with settlements in preposterous lawsuits brought by Trump. (We’ve seen it with other giant corporations, storied universities, and blue chip law firms, too.)

Join Public Citizen in a message to Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company:

Fascist movements always try to take over the press. Your suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show plays right into Donald Trump’s hands and furthers our nation’s slide toward authoritarianism. You have the resources to stand up to Trump. And you have a duty to stand up for freedom of the press. Put Kimmel back on the air.

Click to add your name now.

Thanks for taking action.

For justice,

- Robert Weissman & Lisa Gilbert, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen
 
 
Donate | Public Citizen | 1600 20th Street NW | Washington DC 20009 | Unsubscribe