ABC faces renewed Trump backlash
In front of the El Capitan Entertainment Center in Hollywood, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The show will be taped on the first night the show returns to its ABC lineup on September 23, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
President Donald Trump revives his calls this week DisneyOwned ABC will take comedian Jimmy Kimmel off the air in a test of late-night TV during the Republican president’s second term.
Although it’s not the first time Kimmel has faced backlash for a show monologue (his show was briefly suspended in September after broadcast station owners threatened to cut it following comments about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk) the renewed challenges are now the responsibility of newly appointed Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro, who took the helm last month.
Trump and First Lady Melania Trump called on ABC to fire the late-night host after he referred to the first lady as a “widow in waiting” in a comedy skit last week, just days before an alleged assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Melania Trump said in a speech: Publish on X It was stated that Kimmel’s comments were “hateful and violent rhetoric” and “intended to divide our country.” Shortly after, Trump posted on the Truth Social platform that Kimmel’s comments amounted to a “call to violence” and were “well beyond the norm.”
In a follow-up monologue on Monday night, Kimmel addressed the backlash and said the remarks were “a joke about age differences.” He added that this was “not, by definition, any call for assassination.” And they know it.”
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said: Publish on X On Tuesday, he said Kimmel should be “outed” for “doubling down on this joke instead of doing the right thing by apologizing.”
Disney representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Increasing political pressure
The incident is the latest in a series of battles between Trump and legacy media, especially late-night television, that has left the industry in a precarious situation.
Broadcast station owners in September next star And sinclair After Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr raised the issue with Kimmel’s comments about Kirk, he said they would cancel Kimmel’s show and air other content in their time slot instead.
Representatives next star And sinclair He declined to comment on Kimmel’s latest comments.
In September, Carr sparked debate about First Amendment protections and the responsibility of national broadcasters like ABC to air generally acceptable content by arguing that broadcast station licenses were at risk of being revoked.
Disney returned Kimmel’s late-night show to the air just days after it was suspended, and Kimmel apologized for the comments during his first appearance.
But if the Trump administration continues to pressure media companies, the back-and-forth could set a precedent.
on tuesday Semaphore reported He noted that the FCC is preparing a review of Disney’s broadcast licenses, but a source said the timing was unrelated to Kimmel’s monologue. Representatives for the FCC and Disney did not immediately respond to requests for comment for this report.
Last year, extraordinaryCBS, which is owned by the company, announced that it will end “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” while it awaits FCC approval for its merger with Skydance. The merger received the green light from regulators shortly after the announcement.
While Disney has said it has no plans for a merger or acquisition in the near term, it has had several run-ins with the Trump administration.
In December 2024, ABC News agreed to pay $15 million to Trump’s future presidential library to resolve a defamation lawsuit filed by the President against the network and anchor George Stephanopoulos.
Last year, ABC News cut ties with national correspondent Terry Moran after he said in a social media post that Trump and senior White House adviser Stephen Miller were “world-class” haters.
