TV host Jimmy Kimmel referred to free speech when he returned to U.S. screens on Tuesday, September 23, calling government pressure on his late-night talk show “anti-American.”
“A government threat to silence a comedian the president doesn’t like is anti-American,” Kimmel said to wild applause. Rather than admit to his own mistake, Kimmel claimed
Our government cannot be allowed to control what we do and do not say on television.
On Tuesday, he also tried to strike a conciliatory note. “It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man,” Kimmel said, acting devastated all of a sudden. “Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what was obviously a deeply disturbed individual,” he said, trying to sugarcoat his earlier words.
However, according to the presenter, the Trump administration sees the controversy as a business opportunity. On live TV, he put the following words and ulterior motive in the president’s mouth:
I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 million. This one sounds even more lucrative.
The latest bust-up between the White House and critics in the media unfolded last week when Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr appeared to threaten the licenses of ABC affiliates broadcasting the show unless they demanded Kimmel’s removal. Two companies that own dozens of those affiliates—Nexstar and Sinclair—then announced they would indeed be removing it from their schedules, prompting Disney to suspend the show nationwide.
Kimmel’s abrupt disappearance from the airwaves sparked fury in liberal circles, with opponents saying he had been targeted because he is critical of Trump.
By Monday, Disney had backtracked, saying the suspension had been an effort to “avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country” and calling Kimmel’s comments “ill-timed and thus insensitive.” But it said it was bringing the show back after days of “thoughtful conversations with Jimmy.”
