Donald Trump suggested on Thursday that TV networks which cover him “negatively” could be punished by the government after his celebration of ABC suspending late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
On Air Force One, the president spoke to reporters on his flight back to the US from his state visit to the UK. The president said major US networks were “97% against me”, though he did not offer evidence to prove this figure or detail how this conclusion was evaluated. He said he read the statistic “someplace”.
“Again, 97% negative, and yet I won easily. I won all seven swing states,” Trump said. “They give me only bad press. I mean they’re getting a license. I would think maybe their licenses should be taken away.”
The president’s claim that US TV networks need to be licensed by the government to operate is, however, incorrect. While local TV stations do require a license from the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC says clearly on its website that it does “not license TV or radio networks (such as CBS, NBC, ABC or Fox)”.
Trump supported ABC’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show, saying that the comedian was “not a talented person” who “had very bad ratings”.
“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 told reporters during his state visit to the United Kingdom, adding “they should have fired him a long time ago”.
According to Nielsen ratings as reported by LateNighter, although Stephen Colbert’s Late Show leads the time slot in total viewers with 2.42 million, Kimmel’s show averaged 1.77 million viewers in the second quarter of 2025 and edged out Colbert in the key 18-49 demographic.
However, there was an 11% drop-off in his show’s viewership the last month. Kimmel also has over 20 million subscribers on YouTube.
The indefinite suspension of Kimmel’s show has prompted numerous calls for a boycott against Disney, ABC’s parent company, and other major media conglomerates that have refused to air Kimmel’s show. An estimated 200 protesters gathered outside Walt Disney Studios in Los Angeles on Thursday, as part of a union-organized protest against Disney’s decision.
Barack Obama also condemned what he called a “dangerous” escalation by the Trump administration. “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 wrote on X.
The controversy began after Kimmel, in a recent broadcast, suggested that “many in Maga land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk”. Within a day, FCC chair Brendan Carr condemned the comments as “truly sick” and suggested ABC could face regulatory consequences.
ABC suspended the show after affiliate operator Nexstar called Kimmel’s remarks “offensive and insensitive”.
As outrage over the suspension continued to brew, the New York Times reported that ABC executives were hoping to find a way to bring Kimmel back soon. Disney CEO Bob Iger’s role in the decision was attracting growing scrutiny and criticism, with New York magazine asking if Iger’s decision on Kimmel “risks tarnishing his legacy in Hollywood”.
Union members from the Writers Guild of America protested against the suspension of Kimmel outside Disney/ABC in Los Angeles, and the union issued a statement saying: “The right to speak our minds and to disagree with each other – to disturb, even – is at the very heart of what it means to be a free people. It is not to be denied. Not by violence, not by the abuse of governmental power, nor by acts of corporate cowardice.”
An estimated 200 people joined the protest, including members of other Hollywood unions that represent actors and musicians, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The writers’ union shared images of protesters holding signs demanding Kimmel’s reinstatement and criticizing the violation of free-speech rights.
One demonstrator held a poster that read “No bread and no circus?” – an apparent reference to the Trump administration going after a popular entertainer as polls show Americans are also struggling with what they see as rising prices and a struggling economy.
The WGA president told the Hollywood Reporter that the union would continue “speaking up and putting pressure in any way we can” until Kimmel returns to air.
Carr, the FCC chair, further raised censorship concerns when he suggested that the commissions might be “looking into” The View, another ABC talkshow. Appearing on conservative podcast the Bulwark, Carr was asked if other shows could face similar issues.
He said: “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 and therefore exempt from the equal-opportunity regime that Congress has put in place.”
The View hosts did not comment about Kimmel during the show’s Thursday broadcast.
The suspension has prompted a slew of critiques from politicians and film and TV industry figures.
David Letterman, the veteran late-night host, condemned ABC’s decision while speaking at a festival hosted by the Atlantic.
“We all see where this is going, correct? It’s managed media. It’s no good. It’s silly. It’s ridiculous,” said Letterman. “You can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful, or trying to suck up to an authoritarian, criminal administration in the Oval Office. That’s just not how this works.”
Damon Lindelof, a powerful Hollywood showrunner and creator of the ABC series Lost and other dramas, has promised not to work with Disney unless it puts Kimmel back on the air.
Lindelof wrote on Instagram: “I was shocked, saddened and infuriated by yesterday’s suspension and look forward to it being lifted soon. If it isn’t, I can’t in good conscience work for the company that imposed it.”
The feud between Trump and Kimmel stretches back years. When Kimmel hosted the 2024 Academy Awards, Trump posted online, calling him a “WORSE HOST”. Kimmel read the message out during the ceremony, and responded by asking Trump if it wasn’t “past your jail time?”
The comedian also emerged as a vocal critic during Trump’s first term, leading the fight against Obamacare repeal efforts after revealing his newborn son’s heart surgery had been made possible by the Affordable Care Act.
Kimmel is the second prominent US late-night host to lose his show in the past few months. CBS announced in July that it would be cancelling Stephen Colbert’s show after he was also critical of Trump.
JD Vance added to the pile-on, joking on social media that secretary of state Marco Rubio would be taking over as host of ABC’s late night show, a quip referencing Rubio’s multiple roles in the Trump administration.
FCC commissioner Anna Gomez, a Democrat, also accused ABC of “shameful” corporate capitulation that “has put the foundation of the first amendment in danger”.
House Democratic leaders called for Carr’s resignation, accusing him of forcing ABC to suspend the show through regulatory threats.
“Brendan Carr has engaged in the corrupt abuse of power,” said the Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, and five other lawmakers in a joint statement. “He has disgraced the office he holds by bullying ABC and forcing the company to bend the knee to the Trump administration.”
Ro Khanna, a representative of California, issued a motion to subpoena Carr in the House oversight committee. “This administration has initiated the largest assault on the first amendment and free speech in modern history,” he said. “They’re making comedy illegal.”
Democrats are also planning legislative action. Senator Chris Murphy and Congressman Jason Crow announced they would introduce legislation designed to protect anti-government speech from censorship and which includes creating “a specific defense for those that are being targeted for political reasons”.
Rob Mackey, Dani Anguiano and Chris Stein contributed reporting
