Trump says ABC had ‘better’ fire Kimmel as Disney stands firm
By Brian Stelter, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump says ABC had “better” fire Jimmy Kimmel soon, in his latest broadside against the network and its popular late-night comedian.
Trump posted to Truth Social on Thursday morning, “When is ABC Fake News Network firing seriously unfunny Jimmy Kimmel, who incompetently presides over one of the Lowest Rated shows on Television? People are angry. It better be soon!!!”
Trump is wrong about Kimmel’s ratings, but he is right that MAGA media influencers remain angry about the comedian and ABC’s support for him.
ABC’s parent company Disney has shown no sign of wavering despite Trump’s pressure and the FCC’s almost unprecedented challenge to ABC’s station licenses.
Disney has declined to comment on the calls to fire Kimmel, who is under contract through next year. But the company has kept his late-night show on the air and has not done anything to distance itself from him.
Trump has railed against Kimmel for years, but this latest controversy began last week when Kimmel made a joke about First Lady Melania Trump looking like an “expectant widow.”
Pro-Trump media outlets condemned the comment, especially in the wake of Saturday night’s shooting outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
On Monday morning, the first lady called on ABC to “take a stand,” and the president followed up that afternoon by saying ABC “should” fire Kimmel immediately.
Then, on Tuesday, the Trump-aligned FCC ordered Disney into an early renewal process for its eight ABC station licenses — a move widely seen as a form of government punishment.
While the regulatory agency asserted that the license challenge was related to an ongoing probe of Disney’s DEI initiatives, most outside observers have viewed it as retaliation for ABC’s refusal to fire Kimmel.
Disney said on Tuesday that its ABC stations are in compliance with FCC rules and that it will defend the stations through the “appropriate legal channels.”
Thursday’s follow-up post from Trump suggests he wants to keep up the pressure against Kimmel and ABC.
Legal experts say Disney will almost certainly prevail in any legal battle over its station licenses.
Kimmel has not referenced the FCC battle in his monologues this week, but he has continued the anti-Trump commentary that his audience expects.
On Wednesday night’s episode, he quipped that “Donald and Melania lately have seemed closer than ever, and I like to think I played a part in that.”
The Trump administration’s rhetoric and the FCC action against ABC have been widely condemned by free expression groups and First Amendment advocates.
“Melania Trump has every right to say Jimmy Kimmel’s joke was vile,” Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said Thursday. “The First Amendment problem starts when the White House pressures ABC to punish a comedian for protected speech. That’s jawboning. And we’ve unfortunately seen this many times before.”
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