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On Wednesday, ABC announced that it would be pulling new episodes of\u00a0Jimmy Kimmel Live!\u00a0\u201cindefinitely\u201d after remarks about Charlie Kirk\u2019s alleged assassin<\/a> sparked right-wing rage and comments from FCC chair Brendan Carr. Kimmel is getting canceled for the set-up to a joke, not even the punchline. In Monday night\u2019s monologue<\/a>, Kimmel said \u201cWe hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang 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.\u201d Carr told YouTuber<\/a>\u00a0Benny Johnson<\/a> that he was considering pulling ABC\u2019s affiliate licenses because Kimmel characterized Charlie Robinson<\/a> as MAGA-affiliated. This \u201cappears to be an action by Jimmy Kimmel to play into the narrative that this was somehow a MAGA or Republican-motivated person,\u201d Carr said. \u201cWhat people don\u2019t understand is that the broadcasters \u2026 have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest. When we see stuff like this, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, on Kimmel, or there\u2019s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.\u201d ABC and media company Nexstar have apparently decided to take the easy way. Nexstar said it would be preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! on its affiliate stations, and shortly thereafter ABC said it was pulling new episodes of the show.<\/p>\n President Trump did a victory lap on Truth Social<\/a>. \u201cGreat News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that\u2019s possible,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThat leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!\u201d<\/p>\n On the pro-Kimmel side, we have Ben Stiller, California senator Adam Schiff, and California governor Gavin Newsom decrying Carr\u2019s remarks and ABC\u2019s decision to take Kimmel off the air. Both the WGA and American Federation of Musicians (who represent Kimmel\u2019s band) issued statements in defense of their union members. \u201cThis is not complicated,\u201d the AFM wrote<\/a>. \u201cTrump\u2019s FCC identified speech it did not like and threatened ABC with extreme reprisals. This is state censorship.\u201d The WGA criticized both the government and the network in their statement. \u201cThe right to speak our minds and to disagree with each other \u2014 to disturb, even \u2014 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,\u201d the statement reads. \u201cShame on those in government who forget this founding truth. As for our employers, our words have made you rich. Silencing us impoverishes the whole world. The WGA stands with Jimmy Kimmel and his writers.\u201d<\/p>\n Hayes focused primarily on Carr\u2019s remarks, laying blame for Kimmel\u2019s enforced hiatus at \u201cstate actors.\u201d He tweeted<\/a>, \u201cThis is the most straightforward attack on free speech from state actors I\u2019ve ever seen in my life and it\u2019s not even close.\u201d<\/p>\n Stiller was concise, reposting<\/a> a report from The Wall Street Journal\u2019s Joe Flint and captioning it, \u201cThis isn\u2019t right.\u201d<\/p>\n Newsom seemed to link Kimmel going off the air to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert\u2019s cancellation, as well as with the firing of MSNBC commentator Matthew Dowd<\/a> and Trump buddies taking control of TikTok<\/a>. \u201cBuying and controlling media platforms. Firing commentators. Canceling shows. These aren\u2019t coincidences,\u201d he wrote<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s coordinated. And it\u2019s dangerous. The @GOP<\/a> does not believe in free speech. They are censoring you in real time.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam Schiff also compared what\u2019s happening to Kimmel with what\u2019s already happened to Colbert. He mentioned Trump\u2019s lawsuits against the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and 60 Minutes. \u201cThis administration is responsible for the most blatant attacks on the free press in American history,\u201d he wrote<\/a>. \u201cWhat will be left of the First Amendment when he\u2019s done?\u201d<\/p>\n Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker called Kimmel\u2019s cancellation \u201can attack off free speech\u201d on Bluesky<\/a>. He urged elected officials to speak up in defense of the First Amendment: \u201cA free and democratic society cannot silence comedians because the President doesn\u2019t like what they say. This is an attack on free speech and cannot be allowed to stand.\u201d<\/p>\n Oates came to Kimmel\u2019s defense despite not being a late-night enjoyer. \u201cAs one who avoids nearly all late-night comics & has never seen Jimmy Kimmell [sic] or his rivals still it seems sad that anyone is so abruptly fired for anything he says however awkward or inappropriate,\u201d she wrote<\/a>. \u201cMuch of humor is edgy, surreal, exaggerated, & can\u2019t be fact-checked. if a joke is in poor taste or falls flat the audience\u2019s silence is punishment enough for the comic.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking from experience<\/a>, Griffin said it was imperative Kimmel have support in this moment. \u201cPlease, take it from me, it is very important to have Jimmy Kimmel\u2018s back right now,\u201d she wrote on Bluesky<\/a>. \u201cBe vocal.\u00a0Be an ideological consumer.\u00a0Money is all their crowd cares about.\u201d<\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: ZZHollywood To You\/Star Max\/GC Images On Wednesday, ABC announced that it would be pulling new episodes of\u00a0Jimmy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,92325,9771,2490,134,59932,17124,84,58678,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-152132","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-charlie-kirk","12":"tag-comedy","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-jimmy-kimmel-live","16":"tag-late-night","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-reactions","19":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}