The chaos surrounding ABC’s removal and reinstatement of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in the last month exemplifies what critics have long suspected of the Trump Administration: that free speech is becoming expensive.
This saga did not begin weeks ago when Jimmy Kimmel commented on the assasination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, nor with CBS’s cancellation of “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert in July. It began a decade ago, during President Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign in 2015.
For years, Trump has raised doubts about the credibility of the media, from deeming some outlets as “fake news” to urging rally crowds to jeer at the press. Trump continued to take aim at the media while in his first term in office, attempting to ban a CNN reporter from the press pool and calling the press “the enemy of the people.”
Late night shows play a crucial role in the media landscape, embodying the convergence of entertainment and news. “Saturday Night Live” sketches and late-night show monologues point out the absurdities in politics and make news engaging to audiences. These comedians and satirists serve to put news in context; they do not aim to be a replacement for raw news sources. But, that does not make them exempt from criticism.
On his show, Kimmel argued that Trump loyalists were trying to score political points off Kirk’s murder. Kimmel stated that the “MAGA gang” was “trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.”
Days after Kimmel’s show aired, reports confirmed that Kirk’s suspected killer leaned left politically, at which point Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr began his effort against Kimmel. Carr told right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson that the FCC could revoke ABC affiliate licences to encourage The Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, to punish Kimmel.
Kimmel’s comment was misleading — at the time of airing, law enforcement had not yet revealed the political leaning of the suspected assassin. However, misinformation does not begin and end with Kimmel. Trump similarly speculated that the “radical left” was responsible for Kirk’s murder before any details about the shooter were released. Yet, only one of these people faced retribution from the FCC. It is this imbalance that underscores a transition of the FCC from a regulator to a political weapon.
This double standard is dangerous, but completely predictable.
After losing the 2020 presidential election, the Trump campaign did not just return with a vengeance, they returned with a plan. Trump has denied affiliation with the policy blueprint “Project 2025” written by the Heritage foundation, a right-wing think tank. Even so, bit by bit, the Trump administration has implemented many of the ideas outlined in the plan to reshape the federal government.
Carr is the author of the “Project 2025” chapter on the FCC. In the chapter, he details how a president could act to skew the political balance of the FCC in favor of his own political party and how the FCC could limit Big Tech’s promotion of diverse political viewpoints.
The FCC will not stop at Kimmel. In the weeks following the Kimmel fiasco, Carr has appeared on radio shows and Fox News promising that the FCC will ensure that TV does not air biased broadcasts to better serve the public interests. Trump echoed his sentiments, posting on Truth Social calling on NBC to remove late-night shows hosted by Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon from air.
Unlike many politicians shaped by military service or legal careers, Trump is a businessman. He campaigned on his ability to negotiate to get what he wants.
The news media has a bottom line just like any other American industry, and their ability to conduct business is regulated by the federal government. These free speech battles do not just play out in the press, they play out in balance sheets.
Just days after CBS announced the cancellation of “The Late Show,” the Trump administration approved the pending merger between Paramount Global, CBS’s parent company, and Skydance Media.
When the Walt Disney Company announced “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” would return to ABC, Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group initially still refused to air Kimmel’s show. Collectively the groups operate over 60 ABC affiliate stations. Carr applauded their efforts to preempt the show. But this is not just ideological alignment; the parent companies of Sinclair and Nexstar are each seeking a merger that requires Trump administration approval.
Free speech is not free if the path to get there is litigious and expensive. Free speech is not free if the attorney general of the United States threatens to “go after” people who engage in hate speech, despite the fact that hate speech is protected under the First Amendment.
This is not about one comedian’s misleading monologue, it is about the survival of free speech when corporate and government interests converge.