President Donald Trump and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Thursday denied that the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show was the result of government censorship.
Sept. 18 President Donald Trump and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Thursday denied that the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show had anything to do with government censorship, saying instead that Disney made the decision based on „bad ratings“ and misleading statements made by the late-night host.
Critics of the Trump administration, however, are demanding Carr’s resignation, calling the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! a suppression of free speech.
Speaking during a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London, Trump shrugged off the suggestion that Kimmel’s suspension was an attack on free speech.
„Well, Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else, and he said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk“, Trump said.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! finished the second quarter of 2025 with an average of 1.77 million viewers, a decline from the past year. Kimmel’s show was second in the time slot behind The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which averaged 2.42 million viewers. Kimmel’s show, however, led in the key 18- to 49-year-old demographic, with 220,000 viewers, his strongest in a year, according to Late Nighter.
ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air Wednesday after Nexstar Media Group, which owns multiple ABC affiliates, said it was pre-empting the show due to Kimmel’s comments about Kirk. Nexstar is awaiting approval from the FCC for its planned merger with Tegna, according to CNBC.
