Former President Barack Obama weighed in on ABC‘s decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel from its schedule indefinite, warning that the Trump administration had taken cancel culture to “a new and dangerous level.”
On X, Obama posted, “After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.”
“This is precisely the kind of government coercion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent — and media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to it.”
On Wednesday, ABC said that Kimmel’s show would be off the air indefinitely. That came hours after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr threatened the network and its stations that he would take some kind of action unless steps were taken. Carr had blasted a remark that Kimmel made during his monologue on Monday, when he said, “We had 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 with everything they can to score political points from it.”
On Benny Johnson’s podcast, Carr condemned the remark and said, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Obama guested on Kimmel’s show when he was president, and appeared with him and then-President Joe Biden at a Q&A and campaign fundraiser in Los Angeles in June, 2024.
