U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he thinks the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should consider revoking TV broadcasters’ licenses for what he says is negative coverage of him and bad ratings.
His remarks came a day after ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air indefinitely.
According to NBC News, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that the FCC could take away the broadcast licenses of networks with hosts and shows that he said are “against me,” saying that “they give me only bad publicity, press.”
“I mean, they’re getting a license. I would think maybe their license should be taken away,” he said, adding that it “will be up to Brendan Carr,” the FCC chair.
“I think Brendan Carr is outstanding. He’s a patriot. He loves our country, and he’s a tough guy, so we’ll have to see,” the president added, before accusing the networks and their hosts of having formal ties to the Democrats.
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Jimmy Kimmel poses in the press room with the award for host for a game show for ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’ during night two of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
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“All they do is hit Trump. They’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that. They’re an arm of the Democrat Party,” he said.
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The FCC regulates broadcasting, telecommunications and broadband.
On its website, the FCC says the public interest standard means it must air programming that is responsive to the needs and problems of its local community of license.
The website notes that the commission has long held that “the public interest is best served by permitting free expression of views,” according to a Reuters report.
On Wednesday, Trump voiced support for Disney-owned ABC’s decision to pull Kimmel’s show over comments he made on-air about the Republicans’ response to the killing of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk.
“Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done,” he wrote on Truth Social.
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Kimmel said during Monday night’s broadcast that MAGA supporters were “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
Trump also nudged NBC to take Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers’ late-night shows off the air and prodded at Stephen Colbert for allegedly having “even worse” ratings than Kimmel.
The president did not provide any evidence that Colbert’s ratings were worse than Kimmel’s.
According to LateNighter, Colbert’s The Late Show averaged 2.42 million viewers per episode in Q2, while Jimmy Kimmel Live! brought in 1.77 million.
In July, Colbert announced that CBS was cancelling The Late Show after a 33-year run next May.
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On Wednesday, Carr told right-wing political commentator Benny Johnson that the FCC had a strong case for suspending Kimmel’s show due to the Kirk comments.
“The FCC could make a strong argument that this is sort of an intentional effort to mislead the American people about a very core fundamental fact, a very important matter,” he said.
Meanwhile, during a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday, Trump told reporters that Kimmel was axed because he “had bad ratings more than anything else.”
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“He had very bad ratings and they should have fired him a long time ago. So, you know, you can call that free speech or not. He was fired for lack of talent,” Trump said.
Late-night show hosts including Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert have come out in support of Kimmel since his show was suspended, though Kimmel, whose contract with the Walt Disney Co.-owned network expires in May 2026, has not commented on his suspension.
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With a file from Reuters.
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