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    Trump says he ‘can’t believe’ Kimmel back on ABC as he hints at action against network – US politics live

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    Good morning and welcome to our coverage of US politics as Donald Trump has made clear his displeasure at the return of late-night talkshow host Jimmy Kimmel.Before Tuesday’s broadcast, Trump opined on his Truth Social online platform that he “can’t believe” ABC gave Kimmel back his show, and hinted at further action against the network.“Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny, and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE,” Trump wrote.“He is yet another arm of the DNC (Democratic National Committee) and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major illegal Campaign Contribution. I think we’re going to test ABC out on this.”He added: “Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative,” seemingly referring to the settlement he reached with ABC News last year in a defamation lawsuit.In his show last night – the first since his suspension over comments about the shooting of rightwing activist Charlie Kirk – Kimmel called government threats to silence comedians “anti-American”.Kimmel said he had not intended to make light of Kirk’s murder and he understood his comments could have been seen as “ill-timed or unclear”.Later in the monologue, Kimmel hit out against Trump, saying that the president “did his best to cancel me” but that “instead, he forced millions of people to watch the show.”Kimmel added that “the president of the United States made it very clear he wants to see me and the hundreds of people who work here fired from our jobs. Our leader celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can’t take a joke.”You can read our report here:Stay with us for more on this story, and in other developments:

    Donald Trump has said he believes Ukraine can regain all the land that it has lost since the 2022 Russian invasion in one of the strongest statements of support he has given Kyiv. Writing on Truth Social after meeting Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the UN on Tuesday, the US president said “Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form”.

    Donald Trump launched a full-on assault on the UN during his general assembly speech, describing it as a feckless, corrupt and pernicious global force that should follow the example of his own leadership. In an inflammatory speech on the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, Trump called for countries to close their borders and expel foreigners, accused the UN of leading a “globalist migration agenda”, and told national leaders that the world body was “funding an assault on your countries”.

    Meanwhile, Trump was accused by a UK cabinet minister of “misreading” London after the US president claimed the city wants to “go to sharia law”. The president renewed his feud with London mayor Sadiq Khan, calling him a “terrible, terrible mayor”. The British work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden dismissed the president’s attack and said Trump had had “a beef” with Khan for years.

    The Secret Service said it had uncovered and dismantled a covert, hi-tech operation in the New York area, which had the capability to disrupt cellular networks. Authorities revealed that the hidden communications system included over 100,000 SIM cards and 300 servers.

    The man accused of trying to assassinate Donald Trump on his West Palm Beach golf course two months before Trump clinched his second presidency in the 2024 White House election has been found guilty by a jury in Fort Pierce, Florida. Ryan Routh – who now faces up to life in prison at a later sentencing hearing – reportedly tried to use a pen to stab himself in the neck as the guilty verdict was read in court. Officers quickly swarmed him and dragged him out of the courthouse.

    After promising to meet with Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, and House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, on Thursday, 25 September, Trump shared in a social media post that he would no longer meet with the top Democratic lawmakers. The negotiations had been intended to secure a government funding measure, before it expires at the end of this month.

    Defense secretary Pete Hegseth decided to close a defense department advisory committee dedicated to recruiting and retaining women in the military. In a social media post announcing the closure of the defense advisory committee on women in the services a Pentagon spokesperson wrote: “The Committee is focused on advancing a divisive feminist agenda that hurts combat readiness, while Secretary Hegseth has focused on advancing uniform, sex-neutral standards across the Department.” More

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      The Guardian view on Donald Trump’s hate for opponents: practising politics the wrong way | Editorial

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      At Sunday’s memorial for the rightwing activist Charlie Kirk, Donald Trump paid a peculiar tribute. Having quoted Mr Kirk’s words of forgiveness, he put aside the script. “That’s where I disagreed with Charlie,” he said. “I hate my opponents, and I don’t want the best for them.” It was a stark and clarifying admission. Mr Trump does not seek to criminalise hate speech so much as to criminalise speech he hates.The US is being dragged into a state of emergency. Speech is framed as terrorism. Satire is rebranded as enemy propaganda. Employers punish workers for personal posts. The predictable result is a chilling climate of surveillance and reprisal, in which citizens learn to keep quiet. The assassination is not just being used to police manners; it is being used to reconstruct the public square so that dissent equals disloyalty, and disloyalty is treated as a security threat.Hannah Arendt warned of the existential peril in blurring the line between truth and lies: then truth doesn’t stand; it becomes optional. Mr Trump’s reported falsehoods about paracetamol and autism will harm mothers, stigmatise families and erode trust in medicine. But in Trumpland such costs are outweighed by the political payoff of pitting supporters against the scientific “establishment”.His assault is twofold. First, speech is being weaponised through partisan media, online influencers and harassment networks that seek to capture attention while corroding the conditions for open dialogue. Second, state power is weaponised by cowing social media platforms, threatening network licences and politicising information. Handing TikTok to rightwing billionaires is a morbid symptom of democratic decline.“Authority is to be controlled by public opinion, not public opinion by authority,” said the US supreme court. That defines the first amendment: citizens, not the state, decide which ideas survive, with narrow limits like fraud or defamation. By presuming to define “truth”, Mr Trump subverts self-government. Hate rallies thrive in Trump’s America because, since 1969, speech is unprotected only if intended and likely to incite “imminent lawless action”.The US is a free-speech outlier. Other democracies accept broader, more collective trade‑offs to protect vulnerable groups, maintain public order and prevent incitement and harassment. Each country is different but the bargain is similar. Speech is presumptively free, yet words are considered acts with foreseeable harms. Words can mobilise mobs, direct harassment and orchestrate violence. The point isn’t to shield anyone’s feelings, it’s to make coexistence possible.Mr Trump has inverted the American model. Rather than robust exchanges under neutral rules, he selectively rewards allies while degrading the conditions of honest debate. All this while the infosphere is saturated with viral lies, making it easier to justify punitive state action “to keep order”. That is how an emergency becomes a system.The answer is not the censor’s pen nor a free-for-all. It requires resilient democratic plumbing; social media platforms made accountable for publishing harms; and properly defining dangerous conduct. The aim – particularly in the US – must be to preserve free expression as the bedrock of self-government while dismantling the machinery that warps attention toward outrage and partisan mobilisation. Mr Trump’s speech was disgraceful. When power learns to hate its opponents, democracy will fail. More

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      Amid the anger and hate, this is the big question: can societies still summon empathy? | Keith Magee

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      Something is happening, and we see it on both sides of the Atlantic. On the surface, it is about flags, identity and political allegiance. But to me, as an American living in Britain, recent events reveal something deeper: both our societies are normalising hate ​and othering in ways that corrode not only our politics but our souls.The something is aggressions and micro-aggressions: a coarsening of everyday encounters. I have snapshots. Recently, at a celebrated creative hub in London, I twice endured blatant bias. My guests and I – the only all-Black table in the room – were left in the dark, literally. As night fell, every other table was given a lamp except ours. When I raised it with management, I was interrupted, dismissed and told it was an oversight. A Black staff member was sent to smooth things over​. An official later told me that while they had “a different view of what happened”, they accepted that this was “how [I] experienced it” and admitted it “fell short of [their] usual standards”. My Blackness was overlooked, diminished and dismissed – while whiteness was appreciated, affirmed and celebrated, in a space that loudly markets itself as a home of “belonging”.​The pendulum has swung back. Much more overt aggression is normalised in a way I haven’t seen in years. Recently in US airports and restaurants, I ​have been called the N-word: a word ​historically intended not ​just to insult, but to erase.These are not minor indignities. They are signs of a culture where suspicion and prejudice are no longer whispered but weaponised. In Colorado, three students were critically wounded after a school shooting. In Minnesota, political leaders were among those targeted in a mass attack by an assailant who compiled a sprawling “hitlist” of dozens of Democrats, though investigators noted he appeared to hold few consistent or coherent ideological beliefs. In Sweden, 10 students and staff members were killed in a tragic attack at an adult education centre in Örebro – a case in which police confirmed “there was nothing … to suggest he had acted on ideological grounds”. Here in Britain, far-right activity and asylum seeker protests have surged, fuelled by a combination of inflammatory rhetoric and relative silence from political leaders.What unites these threads is not ideology but a deficit of empathy. And without empathy, democracies falter.Martin Luther King Jr warned: “Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.” Hatred, he knew, corrodes the hater as much as the hated. Love, by contrast, is the only force capable of transforming both. This is not abstract philosophy. It is lived truth.And the message of Jesus Christ was never about defending doctrines or drawing boundaries of purity. It was a message of radical love – love that crossed lines, embraced the despised and saw the soul beyond the sin. That is the love the world is starving for today.Rabbi Jonathan Sacks made the same case in his 2015 book Not in God’s Name: “We are all children of Abraham … God is calling us, Jew, Christian and Muslim, to let go of hate and the preaching of hate, and live at last as brothers and sisters … honouring God’s name by honouring his image, humankind.” His challenge was theological, yes, but also civic. Societies cannot thrive if they are built on grievance. Empathy must become a public practice woven into our schools, workplaces and laws. Politicians who thrive on division should be held accountable not only for what they say but for the cultures of cruelty they foster.Even in the US, where free speech is sacrosanct, presidents have acknowledged, rhetorically at least, that liberty cannot mean licence. “We must love each other, show affection for each other, and unite together in condemnation of hatred, bigotry, and violence,” the Trump White House once declared. That statement should apply to every American citizen – bar none – and to every society that claims to be democratic.From Britain’s protests to the US’s violence, public theatre often drowns out deeper questions. The real issue is not which side shouts louder, but whether societies can still summon empathy in an age addicted to division. Free speech is vital for democracy – but without empathy and responsibility, it becomes a blunt instrument that wounds the vulnerable while shielding the powerful.Here in Britain, empathy would mean confronting racism where it hides in plain sight: in private clubs that celebrate whiteness while ignoring Blackness, and in everyday encounters where bias is excused as banter. It would mean reshaping our politics so grievance is not weaponised but grace is prioritised.This is not about sentimentality. Empathy is not naivety. It is an act of moral courage. It means refusing to define people solely by their worst moments. It means seeing the soul in the person across from us – even when their words wound.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionI feel outraged when a waiter – or anyone – calls me a nigger, because the word is meant to erase me. But I do not feel hatred. Hatred corrodes the soul. Outrage, when held rightly, becomes the fuel for truth-telling – for refusing to allow dignity to be diminished or injustice to be normalised. My hope is that even in the face of such ugliness, we can build a society where empathy does the work that hate once claimed: binding us together, not tearing us apart.I think often of my son. He is growing up in a world more toxic than the one I inherited. He will face choices about whether to meet cruelty with cruelty or to answer it with love. What I want him to know; what I want us all to know, is that empathy is not weakness. It is strength. It is the refusal to let hate dictate who we are. In the end, it is the only inheritance worth leaving behind.I think, too, of another child: Charlie Kirk’s son in the US. One will grow up without his father; my own will grow up watching what that boy’s father stood for. Two boys, oceans apart, but inheriting the same question: will we break the cycle of hate? My prayer is that, in different ways, both will come to know this: the only way forward, the only way to heal what is broken, is love.

      Keith Magee is a theologian and author, and chairs the Guardian Foundation More

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      For comedians around the world, the laughs often end as democracy fades

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      The exiled Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef has experienced firsthand how intolerant governments can silence political satire. And he had a short message this week for those living in an age of Donald Trump’s free speech clampdown: “My Fellow American Citizens,” he wrote on X. “Welcome to my world.”In his attacks on the most prominent of American satirists, the US president has joined a cadre of illiberal and sensitive leaders around the world who will not tolerate a joke.The latest target of what critics say is a campaign to silence dissenting voices was Jimmy Kimmel, who had his late-night ABC talkshow suspended after government pressure. The removal, weeks after the rival network CBS cancelled Stephen Colbert’s satirical show, follows other Trump-led crackdowns on media and academia.Political foes of the US president say the diminishing space for free speech shows Trump’s America is moving towards authoritarianism. Senator Bernie Sanders, speaking to MSNBC, said the country was on a path towards becoming more like oppressive regimes in Russia and Saudi Arabia. “This is just another step forward,” he said.From Egypt’s military ruler, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, to India’s populist prime minister, Narendra Modi, the laughs often end for comedians as democracy dwindles.One of the most famous global comedians to have his life turned upside down by his political satire is Youssef, who first found fame with a TV show panning the Egyptian regime.Known as the “Egyptian Jon Stewart” in reference to the US talkshow host whom he was inspired by (and looks like), Youssef is a former heart surgeon who became a household name.But his satire made him the target of two opposing governments. He was first arrested in April 2013, accused of insulting Islam and Egypt’s then president. Months later, when Sisi took power by force, Youssef had to cancel his show and flee the country.View image in fullscreenYoussef has said his struggle was as much against Egypt’s cloying, conservative culture as its repressive leaders. “We didn’t have a space for satire in Egypt. We carved out our own space. We had to fight for it,” he said in a 2015 interview.“And because there’s no platform, no space or infrastructure for that kind of satire to be accepted, we were basically pushed out … We are up against generations of people who don’t have this kind of mindset. That’s why it was an uphill battle for us.”Comedians elsewhere have often found themselves caught up in nationalist fervour.In India, which has a history of a lively and relatively free public discourse, critics of Modi argue space to criticise the policies of his rightwing nationalist government is shrinking.Comedians and comedy venues have increasingly been caught in the crosshairs since the rise of his Hindu Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), which has ruled for more than a decade.A Muslim comedian was detained by police for weeks in 2021 for allegedly vulgar jokes insulting Hindu gods – despite never having performed at the show. The comedian Vir Das faced a backlash later the same year and police reports filed by BJP officials after a monologue that dealt with the country’s contradictions on women’s rights and religion.View image in fullscreenPolice in Mumbai registered a criminal case against a comedian in 2017 over a tweet of a photo of Modi modified by Snapchat’s popular dog filter, giving him a canine nose and ears.Similar cases have come out in Russia, including a standup of Azerbaijani origin and a citizen of Belarus, Idrak Mirzalizade, who was detained for 10 days and later banned from the country for a joke about open racism in Russia.Comedy, it seems, can also be treated by some as a transnational crime.The Turkish government asked for the prosecution of a German comedian in 2016 for performing a satirical poem about its president. In the late-night programme screened by the German state broadcaster ZDF, Jan Böhmermann sat in front of a Turkish flag beneath a small, framed portrait of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, reading out a poem that accused the president of repressing minorities and “kicking Kurds”.View image in fullscreenErdoğan’s lawyer Michael Hubertus von Sprenger wanted to enforce a complete ban on the poem, and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor at the time, was widely criticised for appearing to give in to Ankara’s demands.Böhmermann said at the time he felt Merkel had “filleted me [and] served me up for tea” to Erdoğan, and that she risked damaging freedom of speech in Germany. Charges brought against him were later dropped and he was given police protection. More

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      What does Donald Trump think free speech means? – podcast

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      Archive: CBS, Good Morning America, The Charlie Kirk show, ABC News, Katie Miller Pod, CBS Austin, PIX11 News, Fox News
      Listen to Science Weekly’s episode on the data behind political violence
      Listen to Politics Weekly, all about Trump’s state visit to the UK
      Purchase Jonathan Freedland’s new book, The Traitor’s Circle, here
      Send your questions and feedback to politicsweeklyamerica@theguardian.com
      Support the Guardian. Go to theguardian.com/politicspodus More

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      Trump celebrates Jimmy Kimmel suspension as some networks replace show with Charlie Kirk tribute – US politics live

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      Here is a summary of the latest developments:

      The Jimmy Kimmel Live! show has been indefinitely suspensded the after the late-night host made comments about the killing of Charlie Kirk. The ABC network, which Disney owns, announced on Wednesday night that it would remove Kimmel’s show from its schedule for the foreseeable future.

      Politicians, media figures and free speech organisations expressed anger and alarm at the suspension of Kimmel’s late night show, warning that critics of Donald Trump were being systematically silenced. California governor Gavin Newsom said the Republican party “does not believe in free speech. They are censoring you in real time.”

      Two of Hollywood’s biggest unions, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild, have voiced their support for Kimmel. WGA West wrote late on Wednesday: “As a guild, we stand united in opposition to anyone who uses their power and influence to silence the voices of writers, or anyone who speaks in dissent.” The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) strongly condemned the decision to take the late-night show off the air, describing it as “government overreach”.

      Senator Elizabeth Warren joined a number of her Democratic colleagues in condemning the decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s programme, saying “giant media companies are enabling his [Donald Trump’s] authoritarianism.” Illinois governor JB Pritzker and senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii also weighed in on X with similar comments. Pritzker called it “an attack on free speech,” while Schatz said, “his was the govt using regulatory leverage to crush speech.”

      Donald Trump called the move “great news for America” and congratulated ABC for its “courage” in a social media post.

      There has been widespread glee among Trump officials and Maga followers after the news that Kimmel’s programme has been suspended. Nancy Mace, a Republican South Carolina representative who is running to be governor of South Carolina, celebrated in an impassioned post on X, claiming “we’re on a truth streak. President Trump is always right, YOU’RE FIRED”. Deputy White House chief of staff and cabinet secretary, Taylor Budowich, called it “consequence culture”.

      ABC’s decision to suspend Kimmel came just minutes after one of the biggest owners of TV stations in the US, Nexstar Media, said it “strongly object[ed]” to his comments and would pre-empt any episodes of Jimmy Kimmel Live! set to air on the stations it owns across the country “for the foreseeable future”. Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns more ABC stations than any other TV conglomerate including Nexstar, announced it would run a tribute to Kirk during Kimmel’s timeslot on Friday.

      Before ABC pulled Kimmel, the Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, had urged local broadcasters to stop airing the show, saying they were “running the possibility of fines or licensed revocation from the FCC” during an appearance on the right-wing commentator Benny Johnson’s podcast. On Wednesday night Carr thanked Nexstar “for doing the right thing” in a statement on social media.

      A number of figures in US comedy have reacted with shock to the decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel from the air. Comedian Mike Birbiglia wrote that he had long defended comedians with views he didn’t agree with, adding: “If you’re a comedian and you don’t call out the insanity of pulling Kimmel off the air – don’t bother spouting off about free speech any more.” Comedian Michael Kosta, who occasionally hosts the Daily Show, wrote: “This is a serious moment in American history. TV networks MUST push back. This is complete BS.”
      Germany’s main journalists’ union urged major US media to support journalists after Walt Disney-owned broadcaster ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! in a row over comments by the show’s host about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.According to Reuters, the head of Deutscher Journalisten Verband (DJV), Mika Beuster said in a statement on Thursday:
      We are observing a rampant erosion of freedom of the press and freedom of expression in the US.
      Broadcasters like ABC were wrong, he said, adding that journalists needed the full support of their employers:
      Their servility towards [US President] Trump will not bring them peace, but will result in further pressure.
      More celebrities have spoken up in defence of Jimmy Kimmel, whose late-night chatshow has been suspended over comments he made about the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk.Actor Jamie Lee Curtis has joined Ben Stiller and Sophia Bush in expressing her opposition to the decision. Curtis posted a link on Instagram that showed an image of Kimmel and a quote he gave to Rolling Stone magazine in April, when he said: “I really don’t think anybody should be cancelled. I really don’t.” Model and actor Christie Brinkley posted a photo of Kimmel and others on her Instagram, adding:
      I love these guys. The laughter they provide is as important as the air we breathe. We must protect their and our first amendment rights!
      Actor and comedian Wanda Sykes posted a video on Instagram saying of President Donald Trump: “He did end freedom of speech within his first year.”Hacks actor Jean Smart asked:
      What is happening to our country?
      I am horrified at the cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel Live.
      What Jimmy said was FREE speech, not hate speech. People seem to only want to protect free speech when it suits THEIR agenda.
      Though I didn’t agree at ALL with Charlie Kirk; his shooting death sickened me; and should have sickened any decent human being.
      MSNBC host Chris Hayes is one of those mentioned in the previous post that has highlighted Donald Trump’s July Truth Social post in which he said “I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next”.Writing on X, Hayes said:
      Trump literally said Kimmel is next back in July! All of this is clearly pretextual. It’s like having us believe Lisa Cook got fired because of a mortgage application. Other people can pretend to be that stupid, but you don’t have to be.
      In an earlier post, Hayes said:
      The countries where comedians can’t mock the leader on late night TV are not really ones you want to live in.
      Over on social media, some people have been pointing out that after the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s show, Donald Trump wrote “I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next” on Truth Social.In a post published on 18 July 2025, Trump wrote:
      I absolutely love that Colbert’ got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert! Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show.
      Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate minority leader, has said the indefinite suspension of the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show by the ABC network should “go to court”.In a post on X, Schumer wrote:
      America is meant to be a bastion of free speech. Everybody across the political spectrum should be speaking out to stop what’s happening to Jimmy Kimmel.
      This is about protecting democracy. This must go to court.
      Jimmy Kimmel is yet to issue any statement on the backlash over his comments about the Charlie Kirk shooting or on the topic of his late-night show being indefenitely suspended.The Hollywood Reporter said a source had told the publication that Kimmel was prepared to address the backlash on Wednesday night’s show. According to the source, Kimmel planned to explain what he said and demonstrate how it was taken out of context but did not plan on apologising.In case you missed it earlier, here is a post on what exactly Jimmy Kimmel said about Charlie Kirk’s killing and the full article here:Hollywood stars have also backed Jimmy Kimmel, with actor Ben Stiller saying in a post on X ABC network’s move to indefinitely suspend Jimmy Kimmel Live! “isn’t right”, while actor Sophia Bush said the “first amendment doesn’t exist in America any more”.Here is a summary of the latest developments:

      The Jimmy Kimmel Live! show has been indefinitely suspensded the after the late-night host made comments about the killing of Charlie Kirk. The ABC network, which Disney owns, announced on Wednesday night that it would remove Kimmel’s show from its schedule for the foreseeable future.

      Politicians, media figures and free speech organisations expressed anger and alarm at the suspension of Kimmel’s late night show, warning that critics of Donald Trump were being systematically silenced. California governor Gavin Newsom said the Republican party “does not believe in free speech. They are censoring you in real time.”

      Two of Hollywood’s biggest unions, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild, have voiced their support for Kimmel. WGA West wrote late on Wednesday: “As a guild, we stand united in opposition to anyone who uses their power and influence to silence the voices of writers, or anyone who speaks in dissent.” The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) strongly condemned the decision to take the late-night show off the air, describing it as “government overreach”.

      Senator Elizabeth Warren joined a number of her Democratic colleagues in condemning the decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s programme, saying “giant media companies are enabling his [Donald Trump’s] authoritarianism.” Illinois governor JB Pritzker and senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii also weighed in on X with similar comments. Pritzker called it “an attack on free speech,” while Schatz said, “his was the govt using regulatory leverage to crush speech.”

      Donald Trump called the move “great news for America” and congratulated ABC for its “courage” in a social media post.

      There has been widespread glee among Trump officials and Maga followers after the news that Kimmel’s programme has been suspended. Nancy Mace, a Republican South Carolina representative who is running to be governor of South Carolina, celebrated in an impassioned post on X, claiming “we’re on a truth streak. President Trump is always right, YOU’RE FIRED”. Deputy White House chief of staff and cabinet secretary, Taylor Budowich, called it “consequence culture”.

      ABC’s decision to suspend Kimmel came just minutes after one of the biggest owners of TV stations in the US, Nexstar Media, said it “strongly object[ed]” to his comments and would pre-empt any episodes of Jimmy Kimmel Live! set to air on the stations it owns across the country “for the foreseeable future”. Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns more ABC stations than any other TV conglomerate including Nexstar, announced it would run a tribute to Kirk during Kimmel’s timeslot on Friday.

      Before ABC pulled Kimmel, the Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, had urged local broadcasters to stop airing the show, saying they were “running the possibility of fines or licensed revocation from the FCC” during an appearance on the right-wing commentator Benny Johnson’s podcast. On Wednesday night Carr thanked Nexstar “for doing the right thing” in a statement on social media.

      A number of figures in US comedy have reacted with shock to the decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel from the air. Comedian Mike Birbiglia wrote that he had long defended comedians with views he didn’t agree with, adding: “If you’re a comedian and you don’t call out the insanity of pulling Kimmel off the air – don’t bother spouting off about free speech any more.” Comedian Michael Kosta, who occasionally hosts the Daily Show, wrote: “This is a serious moment in American history. TV networks MUST push back. This is complete BS.”
      In reaction to the news that Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show has been indefinitely suspended, the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) said that “Trump’s FCC identified speech it did not like and threatened ABC with extreme reprisals. This is state censorship.”On X, the president of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada, Tino Gagliardi, issued a statement in response to ABC taking Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which employs musicians from the American Federation of Musicians Local 47 in Los Angeles, off the air. In it he said:
      This is not complicated: Trump’s FCC identified speech it did not like and theatened ABC with extreme reprisals. This is state censorship. It’s now happening in the United States of America, not some far-off country. It’s happening right here and right now.
      This act by the Trump administration represents a direct attack on free speech and artistic expression. These are fundamental rights that we must protect in a free society. The American Federation of Musicians strongly condemns the decision to take Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air.
      We stand in solidarity with all those who will be without work because of government overreach.
      Two of Hollywood’s biggest unions, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild, have voiced their support for Jimmy Kimmel after his show was suspended by ABC.“The right to speak our minds and to disagree with each other – to disturb, even – is at the very heart of what it means to be a free people. It is not to be denied. Not by violence, not by the abuse of governmental power, nor by acts of corporate cowardice,” WGA West wrote late on Wednesday.
      As a Guild, we stand united in opposition to anyone who uses their power and influence to silence the voices of writers, or anyone who speaks in dissent. If free speech applied only to ideas we like, we needn’t have bothered to write it into the constitution. What we have signed on to – painful as it may be at times – is the freeing agreement to disagree.”
      “Shame on those in government who forget this founding truth.”Meanwhile Sag-Aftra, which represents about 170,000 actors, journalists and many more professions across the media and entertainment industries, said it “condemns” Kimmel’s suspension.Their statement read:
      Democracy thrives when diverse points of view are expressed.
      The decision to suspend airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! is the type of suppression and retaliation that endangers everyone’s freedoms. Sag-Aftra stands with all media artists and defends their right to express their diverse points of view, and everyone’s right to hear them.
      Jimmy Kimmel and Donald Trump have a history of feuding and trading barbs.When Kimmel hosted the 2024 Academy Awards, Trump posted online “Has there EVER been a WORSE HOST than Jimmy Kimmel at The Oscars. His opening was that of a less than average person trying too hard to be something which he is not, and never can be.”Kimmel read the missive out during the ceremony and responded by saying he was “surprised” Trump was still awake, asking, “Isn’t it past your jail time?” in reference to the numerous cases that were then making their way through the courts.In 2017, during Trump’s first term, Kimmel emerged as an unlikely leader in the fight to save Obamacare. He dedicated a number of monologues on his programme to pushing back against efforts to to tear up the Affordable Care Act (ACA).He revealed in a tearful speech that his son, Billy, had been born with a heart defect and nearly died. Kimmel said that thanks to the top-of-the-line healthcare, his surgery was successful.When announcing that it would pull Jimmy Kimmel’s programme, TV station operator Nexstar Communications Group called comments the comedian had made about Charlie Kirk’s death “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse.”Supporters of Donald Trump have praised the decision, with the White House deputy chief of staff calling it an example of “consequence culture.”But what did Kimmel actually say that raised the ire of the president’s Maga movement?During his Monday evening monologue, Kimmel suggested Kirk’s alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, might have been a pro-Trump Republican.“The Maga Gang [is] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said.It appears this was the comment that most angered Trump supporters and officials.In an interview earlier on Wednesday, the Trump-appointed head of the US media regulator said it appeared to be a “concerted effort to try to lie to the American people.”Jimmy Kimmel also mentioned reaction to the death of Kirk on his Tuesday programme as well, saying “many in Maga-land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk”.Referencing vice-president JD Vance’s comment while guest-hosting Kirk’s podcast, Kimmel said “the president and his henchmen are doing their best to fan the flames, so they can I guess attack people on the dangerous left.”Free speech groups have reacted with alarm to the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s programme, with one calling it a “new McCarthyism.”Truth Wins Out (TWO), an anti-extremism nonprofit said it was part of a “dangerous right‑wing ‘Cancel Crusade’ that has weaponized outrage to silence dissent and intimidate media outlets.”
      If this dire situation continues, the only people left on the air will be Baghdad Bob and that anchorwoman in North Korea. This is a new McCarthyism that has expanded the boundaries of ‘woke’ to once unimaginable dimensions. It is chilling the free press and punishing truth‑tellers.”
      The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression has said that the ABC network “caved” to pressure from the US government.
      The timing of ABC’s decision, on the heels of the FCC chairman’s pledge to the network to “do this the easy way or the hard way,” tells the whole story. Another media outlet withered under government pressure, ensuring that the administration will continue to extort and exact retribution on broadcasters and publishers who criticize it.”
      In a statement, the advocacy group went on to say that the US “cannot be a country where late night talk show hosts serve at the pleasure of the president. But until institutions grow a backbone and learn to resist government pressure, that is the country we are.”Earlier on Wednesday, the chair of the US media regulator, Brendan Carr, appeared on a rightwing podcast and threatened broadcasters’ licenses if action was not taken against Jimmy Kimmel.In the interview with Benny Johnson, Carr suggested suspending Kimmel could be an appropriate action from ABC.Carr was responding to comments from Kimmel on Monday, in which he said that “we hit some new lows over the weekend with the Maga gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”Carr called Kimmel’s comments an attempt to “play into a narrative that this was somehow a Maga or Republican motivated person.”After ABC’s announcement hours later, Johnson boasted online that it was his interview with Carr that had led to Kimmel’s suspension. “It’s called soft power,” he said. “The Left uses it all the time. Thanks to President Trump, the Right has learned how to wield power as well.”There has been widespread glee among Trump officials and Maga followers to the news that Jimmy Kimmel’s programme has beens suspended.Nancy Mace, a Republican South Carolina representative who is running to be governor of South Carolina, celebrated in an impassioned post on X, claiming “we’re on a truth streak. President Trump is always right, YOU’RE FIRED”.The deputy White House chief of staff and cabinet secretary, Taylor Budowich, called it “consequence culture”.
      Normal, common sense Americans are no longer taking the bullshit and companies like ABC are finally willing to do the right and reasonable thing.”
      Rightwing commentator Megyn Kelly said of Kimmel’s suspension “MAGA has f&cking HAD IT. We are ANGRY. We are INCENSED”.Commentator Matt Walsh said Kimmel “deserves to be fired”.
      These are the repercussions that conservatives have been experiencing for years for infractions not nearly as egregious.”
      Senator Elizabeth Warren has joined a number of her Democratic colleagues in condemning the decisions to suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s programme, saying “giant media companies are enabling his authoritarianism.”
      First Colbert, now Kimmel. Last-minute settlements, secret side deals, multi-billion dollar mergers pending Donald Trump’s approval. Trump silencing free speech stifles our democracy. It sure looks like giant media companies are enabling his authoritarianism.
      Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii also weighed in on X with similar comments. Pritzker called it “an attack on free speech,” while Schatz said, “his was the govt using regulatory leverage to crush speech.”“This is censorship in action,” said Senator Ed Markey.
      FCC chair threatens ABC and Disney over Kimmel’s comments. Hours later, he’s off air. It’s dangerous and unconstitutional. The message to every media company is clear: Adopt the Maga line or the Federal Censorship Commission will come after you.”
      The stunning decision on Wednesday to suspend one of the United States’ most popular and influential late-night shows has come as Donald Trump and his allies have threatened to crack down on criticism of Charlie Kirk, the rightwing activist killed last week.Jimmy Kimmel’s show was taken off the air “indefinitely” after the host was criticised for comments about the motives behind the killing Kirk and the president’s reaction to the event.The move was immediately welcomed by Trump, who hailed it as “Great News for America.”
      The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.”
      Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns or operates dozens of local ABC stations across the US, has said it will replace Kimmel’s programme on Friday with a tribute to Charlie Kirk.In a statement posted online, Sinclair praised the Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, for threatening the licenses of stations that defended Kimmel’s right to free speech, and called the comic’s remarks “inappropriate and deeply insensitive”.The company owns ABC affiliates in dozens of cities, including: Washington DC; St Louis, Missouri; Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington and Tulsa, Oklahoma.It pledged to keep Kimmel’s show off its stations “until formal discussions are held with ABC regarding the network’s commitment to professionalism and accountability.”Hello and welcome to live coverage of the latest news in the US amid the fallout from the indefinite suspension of the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show after the late-night host’s comments about the killing of Charlie Kirk. The ABC network, which Disney owns, announced on Wednesday night that it would remove Kimmel’s show from its schedule for the foreseeable future.Here is a summary of the latest developements:

      Politicians, media figures and free speech organisations expressed anger and alarm at the suspension of Kimmel’s late night show, warning that critics of Donald Trump were being systematically silenced. California governor Gavin Newsom said the Republican party “does not believe in free speech. They are censoring you in real time.”

      Donald Trump called the move “great news for America” and congratulated ABC for its “courage” in a social media post.

      ABC’s decision to suspend Kimmel came just minutes after one of the biggest owners of TV stations in the US, Nexstar Media, said it “strongly object[ed]” to his comments and would preempt any episodes of Jimmy Kimmel Live! set to air on the stations it owns across the country “for the foreseeable future”. Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns more ABC stations than any other TV conglomerate including Nexstar, announced it would run a tribute to Kirk during Kimmel’s timeslot on Friday.

      Before ABC pulled Kimmel, the Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, had urged local broadcasters to stop airing the show, saying they were “running the possibility of fines or licensed revocation from the FCC” during an appearance on the rightwing commentator Benny Johnson’s podcast. On Wednesday night Carr thanked Nexstar “for doing the right thing” in a statement on social media.

      A number of figures in US comedy have reacted with shock to the decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel from the air. Comedian Mike Birbiglia wrote that he had long defended comedians with views he didn’t agree with, adding: “If you’re a comedian and you don’t call out the insanity of pulling Kimmel off the air – don’t bother spouting off about free speech anymore.” Comedian Michael Kosta, who occasionally hosts the Daily Show, wrote: “This is a serious moment in American history. TV networks MUST push back. This is complete BS.” More

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      in US Politics

      Several people fired after clampdown on speech over Charlie Kirk shooting

      by

      Reactions on social media to the murder of far-right activist Charlie Kirk have cost multiple people their jobs as authorities in numerous states clamp down on critical commentary.Among those to have been fired, suspended or censured in recent days for their opinions include teachers, firefighters, journalists, politicians, a Secret Service employee, a junior strategist at Nasdaq and a worker for a prominent NFL team.The dismissals come as the administration of Donald Trump promises to take action against foreign nationals it deems to be “praising, rationalizing or making light of” Kirk’s killing, himself a fervent free speech advocate.Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, meanwhile, has ordered staff “to find and identify military members, and any individual associated with the Pentagon, who have mocked or appeared to condone Charlie Kirk’s murder”, NBC News reported Friday.The outlet, citing two defense department officials, said several members of the military were relieved of their duties because of social media posts – and that “dozens” more, including civilian Pentagon employees, had been “called out on X”.Along with government efforts to clamp down, a number of conservative figures and groups are attempting to collate and expose examples of commentary seen as objectionable.Others have been subjected to torrents of online abuse or seen their offices flooded with calls demanding they be fired, part of a surge in rightwing rage that has followed the killing.Some Republicans want to go further still and have proposed deporting Kirk’s critics from the United States, suing them into penury or banning them from social media for life.Laura Loomer, a Trump loyalist, posted to X: “Prepare to have your whole future professional aspirations ruined if you are sick enough to celebrate his death. I’m going to make you wish you never opened your mouth.”Republican congressman Clay Higgins said in a post on X that anyone who “ran their mouth with their smartass hatred celebrating the heinous murder of that beautiful young man” needed to be “banned from ALL PLATFORMS FOREVER”. The US deputy secretary of state, Christopher Landau, said on the same site that he had been disgusted to “see some on social media praising, rationalizing, or making light of the event, and have directed our consular officials to undertake appropriate action”.Republicans’ anger at those disrespecting Kirk’s legacy contrasts with the mockery some of the same figures – including Kirk – directed at past victims of political violence, Reuters reported.For example, when former House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, was clubbed over the head by a hammer-wielding conspiracy theorist during a break-in at their San Francisco home shortly before the 2022 midterm elections, Higgins posted a photo making fun of the attack. He later deleted the post.Loomer falsely suggested that Paul Pelosi and his assailant were lovers, calling the brutal assault on the octogenarian a “booty call gone wrong”. Speaking to a television audience a few days after the attack, a grinning Kirk called for the intruder to be sprung from jail.“If some amazing patriot out there in San Francisco or the Bay Area wants to really be a midterm hero, someone should go and bail this guy out,” he said.Loomer and Higgins did not return messages to Reuters seeking comment.Scott Presler, a far-right activist with 2.3 million followers on X, asked for tips about teachers “celebrating Kirk’s death” – and he has shared posts and social media profiles of alleged wrongdoers, including details of their workplaces, Time reported.In Florida, the state’s board of education issued a proactive memorandum specifically warning school employees not to post any personal viewpoints that “may undermine the trust of the students and families that they serve”.Two educators in Clay county were removed from their classrooms and placed under state investigation on Thursday, one an elementary school teacher who posted to her personal social media account an article about the shooting, and the words: “This may not be the obituary we were all hoping to wake up to, but it is a close second for me.”The other, a high school counselor, alluded in a post to Kirk’s position, expressed in 2023, that it was “worth it” to have “some gun deaths every single year” to protect the “God-given right” of gun ownership.The counselor wrote, “37 years in public education, ready to take a bullet for my kids. No I’m not shedding a tear, he chose to sacrifice himself for the rights [to] be protected. Karma’s a bitch.”The comments were “egregious” and “hateful”, Jennifer Bradley, a Republican state senator, said in a statement.Arguably the most prominent individual to lose employment was Matthew Dowd, a veteran political analyst fired by MSNBC for suggesting on air that Kirk’s radical rhetoric may have contributed to the violence that killed him.“Hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions,” Dowd said, adding: “You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and then not expect awful actions to take place.”The network and Dowd issued separate apologies. But in a Substack article published Friday, Dowd said he was the victim of a “rightwing media mob”, and that his words had been misconstrued because he spoke before knowing Kirk was the target or had been fired upon.Most of those who have been fired or suspended, however, are people in regular jobs whose comments displeased their employers or were otherwise exposed. They include a Secret Service agent who said Kirk “spewed hate and racism on his show” and “you can’t circumvent karma”.The Carolina Panthers, an American football franchise, fired a communications coordinator who asked on Instagram: “Why are y’all sad? Your man said it was worth it,” another reference to Kirk’s previous comments on the constitution’s second amendment, guaranteeing Americans the right to bear arms.A reporter covering pro basketball’s Phoenix Suns lost his job for posting comments including: “Truly don’t care if you think it’s insensitive or poor timing to decline to respect an evil man who died.”A New Orleans firefighter was reportedly thrust under investigation by her employer after posting – then deleting – a social media comment that called the bullet that struck Kirk “a gift from god”.Delta Air Lines announced it had suspended employees over “social media content related to Kirk’s killing that the company judged to have gone “well beyond healthy, respectful debate”. According to a statement signed by Delta’s chief executive officer Ed Bastian, the suspensions would remain in effect pending an investigation, and the company made it a point to say “violations of our social media policy can carry meaningful consequences, including termination”.Separately, American Airlines issued a statement on social media saying “employees who promote such violence on social media were immediately removed from service”.“We will continue to initiate action with team members who display this kind of behavior,” American Airlines’ statement said.The Hill gave numerous other examples of workers, including nurses, university employees, and others, fired or disciplined for their comments. A teacher in Oregon, it said, lost their job for saying Kirk’s death had “really brightened up my day”.Reuters contributed reporting More