Fox News host Sean Hannity claimed Wednesday that no “prominent conservative” wanted late-night host Jimmy Kimmel to be taken off the air. Look no further than President Donald Trump, California Governor Gavin Newsom fired back.
ABC announced Wednesday evening that it was indefinitely suspending Jimmy Kimmel Live! after comments the host made Monday characterizing conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s killer as “MAGA”. Law enforcement said Tuesday that the suspected shooter’s mother claimed he had “started to lean more to the left” over the past year.
Some liberals have accused conservatives of censoring those who haven’t condemned the assassination of Kirk strongly enough, but Hannity came to conservatives’ defense on his show.
“The left already, starting with Humpty Dumpty fake news CNN, JB Pritzker, Gavin Newsom, predictably claiming, this is conservative censorship – the MAGA crowd, Donald Trump, got Jimmy Kimmel,” Hannity said. “That is false.”
“There’s no pressure group outside that was pushing for Jimmy Kimmel to be silenced.”
The Fox host also claimed that he couldn’t find “a single prominent conservative voice in the country that even remotely wanted, or hoped, or was pushing, to get Jimmy Kimmel taken off the air.”
Newsom, who has ramped up his social media posts trolling conservatives in recent weeks, was quick to respond.
He posted on X: “BREAKING: Sean Hannity doesn’t think Donald Trump is ‘a prominent conservative voice.’”
Attached was a screenshot of Trump’s Truth Social post, from July, where he celebrated the cancellation of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert and predicted Kimmel would be “next.”
Newsom continued to post apparent free speech contradictions by conservatives Thursday. He shared a statement made by Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr in 2022 where he defended political satire against censorship.
“This aged well,” the Democratic governor wrote.
Before ABC decided to pull Kimmel’s show, Carr suggested he would take regulatory action against the network for the host’s remarks.
Trump and his allies have long railed against network TV’s late-night hosts who often criticize or mock the president.
Trump celebrated Kimmel’s suspension on Truth Social Wednesday, calling it “Great News for America”. He also appeared to call for the ousting of other late-night hosts, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers.
For years, Trump has called late-night stars “untalented,” insinuated they’re working with Democrats, asserted they can be replaced, and claimed they have poor ratings.
Kimmel’s show has seen a significant drop in viewership in the past year, and although it made some gains in the second quarter, it continued to trail behind other late-night hosts according to LateNighter. His contract is up in May 2026.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has displayed a willingness to wield his power against legacy media institutions that paint him negatively.
The president sued CBS News for$10 billion last year, for what he said was deceptive editing of a clip of former Vice President Kamala Harris on 60 Minutes. CBS agreed to settle the lawsuit for $16 million earlier this year.
Trump also filed a $10 billion-dollar defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal for publishing an alleged birthday letter he wrote to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump recently filed a $15 billion lawsuit against the New York Times for defamation related to articles that undermined his success as a businessman.
The president has also revoked public funding to public broadcasters NPR and PBS, which he claims are biased against him.
