Freedom of expression is currently facing one of its worst moments in the United States. Charlie Kirk was murdered while debating at a university. The country's attorney general wants to prosecute hate crimes, something Kirk vehemently opposed. The Executive branch is using all its power to punish its rivals. ABC announced on Wednesday night the "indefinite suspension" of Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show, which has been on the air since 2002, amidst enormous pressure and threats from the Trump administration. Although the president celebrated it, insulting the comedian, he does not consider it enough. On Thursday, while returning from the UK on the presidential plane, he repeatedly hinted that major television networks could lose their licenses due to constant criticism of him and his government.
The pretext for the show's suspension was a monologue by the comedian last Monday, but the reasons go much further, and must be seen within the campaign led by the White House not only to silence the media or the most critical and hostile comedians, but to reconfigure the entire media landscape of the country, including newspapers, television, and social networks.
"I read somewhere that the networks were 97% against me again, 97% negative, and yet I easily won the elections (...) One would think that maybe they should have their license revoked (...) I remember the old times when every four or five years the networks had to reapply for their license, and the license was free. You know, they get this valuable thing for free, and they reapply for the license, and if they did something wrong... well, if they did something wrong... you know I beat [ABC anchor] George Stephanopoulos and they had to pay me 15 million (...) before the networks had to apply for a license extension. I haven't heard anyone talk about that, the only one who mentioned it is Brendan Carr, who is doing a great job and I think he is a great patriot," said the president in defense of the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, who on Wednesday attacked Jimmy Kimmel and threatened ABC on a podcast that they could lose their license if they did not take action against the comedian.
In mid-July, the American network CBS unexpectedly canceled The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, the most-watched late-night show, ending a show that had been on the air for over three decades. The reasons given were "purely financial", but within the industry, it was clear that its elimination was the price to pay to reach an agreement with President Donald Trump, whose Administration had the right, through the audiovisual regulator, to veto a merger operation of its parent company Paramount valued at billions of dollars.
The network had already paid 15 million to settle an unprecedented lawsuit against another star presenter, George Stephanopoulos. Trump then posted a message on his social network celebrating the news and attributed the decision to himself: "I love that they fired Colbert. His talent was even lower than his audience. I heard that Jimmy Kimmel is next". Three days later, he insisted: "It is said, and said loudly, that Jimmy Kimmel will be NEXT to go. And shortly after, [Jimmy] Fallon will also go," he anticipated. Less than two months later, ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live!, without clarifying if the decision is final or if they are seeking a way, with apologies and perhaps even donations involved, to save the show.
"Good news for the United States: Jimmy Kimmel's show, with its low ratings, has been canceled. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what needed to be done. Kimmel has not an ounce of talent and has worse ratings than even Colbert, if possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two complete losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also terrible. Do it, NBC!" immediately celebrated the Republican leader from London, in the early hours, pointing clearly to who should be the next to be fired.
This Thursday, reiterating the issue, he repeated the attacks saying that Kimmel "is crazy, but had no talent or audience" and again insisting on the "granted licenses" to networks with programs that "are a branch of the Democratic Party."
Sometimes governments are subtle in their media maneuvers. This time is not one of them. The pressure on television networks, on ABC in particular, from rival media, from Air Force One, from the regulator, and using the power of veto over business operations to also force deals with more local stations in the country, has been done publicly and without any disguise. In tweets, interviews, and statements. The president pointed and his operatives threatened on the microphone with sanctions or even revoking the broadcasting license. And after having achieved it, at least for now, he has sent a very clear message to all the others.
All this after suing The New York Times for defamation demanding $15 billion from the company. After suing The Wall Street Journal demanding $10 billion. After telling a reporter from ABC just a few days ago that they were "going after people like you" accusing him of having "hate in his heart". Or reprimanding an Australian journalist live for asking about conflicts of interest in his businesses, claiming that he was compromising his country's relations with the US and that he would speak to Australian authorities to complain.
Many citizens, but also politicians and even journalists, downplay what happened by saying, for example, that it is a company decision, based on audience, or that Kimmel mocked Tucker Carlson when he left Fox News, after the network had to pay over $750 million for defamation on his show to a voting machine company. Or when he joked about the firing of Roseanne Barr for comparing Barack Obama to a chimpanzee. This is different, it is the State apparatus moving all its gears for political and business reasons.
In his Monday monologue, Kimmel criticized the Make America Great Again movement saying that over the weekend "the MAGA band has been desperately trying to portray this guy who killed Charlie Kirk as something different from one of them and doing everything possible to score political points with it." Later, he mocked President Trump, a personal friend of the conservative activist. He did so by bringing up a video from last Friday at the White House, where Trump was asked how he personally felt after the attack on Kirk. The president, perhaps because he didn't hear the whole question well, wanted to change the subject, or for any other reason, responded by talking about the renovations of the White House gardens. And that's where Kimmel hit back: "He's in the fourth stage of grief: construction," he said amidst laughter from the audience. "This is not how an adult mourns the death of someone they considered a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns the death of a goldfish", he added.
The words about Tyler Robinson, Kirk's alleged killer, have been echoed time and time again in the most pro-president media. Although in them the comedian did not address the attack itself, did not mention Kirk at any point, nor did he trivialize the crime, they sparked a storm. And the network's decision came after two related events. The first, the direct threats from the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) the regulator. In an interview on a podcast by a well-known right-wing commentator, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr threatened to take immediate action against Kimmel, ABC, and Disney "for deliberately deceiving the public by claiming that Charlie Kirk's killer was a MAGA conservative," which did not happen. Carr spoke of "malicious" and "truly sickening" lies. The regulator, a man of total trust of Trump, insisted that it was "a very serious problem for Disney" and warned: "we can do it the easy way or the hard way", pointing to the broadcasting license granted by the FCC itself:
The second act of the day came from Nextar, the media group with the most television licenses in the United States, with nearly 200 local stations. And that precisely needs the permission of Carr and the FCC for a merger operation of over $6 billion with a rival. Hours before ABC made its statement, Nextar had announced that it would pull the late show from all its affiliates' schedules.
All of this is also part of a larger battle. In the US, there are five national television networks, and only one is openly conservative and pro-Trump, Fox. Until now. If the macro operation backed by the White House goes through, Larry Ellison, the richest man in the world and a friend of the president, and his son David, will own Paramount (owner of CBS), Warner Bros Discovery, and the US part of TikTok. As part of the move, CBS would also acquire The Free Press, a digital media outlet created a few years ago by journalist Bari Weiss after her noisy departure from The New York Times, which has become very popular among liberals and the center-right. This move would not only give Weiss more than 100 million dollars but perhaps a position as the number two at the network, in a moment of a clear ideological shift.