Trump had celebrated Kimmel’s removal, calling it “great news for America”.
Opponents saw it as the latest step in creeping Government control of free speech – an article of faith for many Americans, as well as a right enshrined in the country’s constitution.
Some on the right were also uneasy, including people who regularly count themselves as Trump allies, like Ted Cruz, the conservative senator from Texas, and firebrand broadcaster Tucker Carlson.
On Friday, Trump again complained about negative media coverage of him, which he said he thought was “illegal”.
FCC threat
The Kimmel episode came a week after Kirk, a close Trump ally, was shot dead on a Utah university campus, setting off a bitter battle over responsibility in deeply polarised America, with conservatives – including Trump – blaming “the radical left”.
Authorities have charged 22-year-old Tyler Robinson and have not indicated they are looking for anyone else.
In his show-opening monologue last Monday, Kimmel said “the MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterise this kid… as anything other than one of them”.
He then showed footage of Trump pivoting from a question about how he had been affected by Kirk’s death to boasting about the new ballroom he is building at the White House, prompting laughter from the studio audience.
“This is not how an adult grieves the murder of somebody called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish,” Kimmel said.
Two days later, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr threatened the licenses of ABC affiliates that broadcast Kimmel’s show.
“I think it’s past time these [affiliates] themselves push back… and say, ‘Listen, we’re not going to run Kimmel anymore until you straighten this out because we’re running the possibility of license revocation from the FCC,’” he told right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson.
Hours later, Nexstar, one of the country’s biggest owners of ABC affiliate stations, announced it would be removing the show from its stations.
Nexstar is in the middle of a multi-billion-dollar merger with a rival that will require FCC approval.
ABC then followed suit, pulling the show nationwide.
Hollywood stars
Before Disney’s about-face, a constellation of Hollywood stars signed an open letter calling the decision to pull the show “a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation [that is] unconstitutional and un-American.”
“The Government is threatening private companies and individuals that the President disagrees with. We can’t let this threat to our freedom of speech go unanswered,” said the letter by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Signatories to the letter included Marvel star Pedro Pascal, Tom Hanks, Jennifer Aniston, Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro.
– Agence France-Presse