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ABC pulls 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' amid regulatory threats

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Trump says Kimmel has no talent, poor ratings

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Writer, actor unions say suspension attacks free-speech

rights

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Trump threatens to pull licenses from broadcasters that

air

criticism

(Adds protest outside Kimmel studio paragraphs 4, 19-20)

By Dawn Chmielewski and Danielle Broadway

LOS ANGELES, Sept 18 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald

Trump on Thursday celebrated the suspension of talk-show host

Jimmy Kimmel from the airwaves and said TV broadcasters should

lose their licenses over negative coverage of his

administration, adding fuel to a national debate over free

speech.

Kimmel has been embroiled in the effort by Trump and his

supporters to punish critics of assassinated right-wing activist

Charlie Kirk, who was shot while speaking to a crowd at a Utah

university on September 10. Since then, allies of Trump and Kirk

have warned Americans to properly mourn the divisive figure or

face the consequences.

The Walt Disney ( DIS )-owned broadcaster ABC announced on

Wednesday that it was yanking the late-night comedy show "Jimmy

Kimmel Live" indefinitely following conservative uproar over his

Monday monologue. Writers, performers, former U.S. President

Barack Obama and others condemned Kimmel's suspension, calling

it capitulation to unconstitutional government pressure.

About 150 demonstrators gathered on Thursday outside the

Hollywood studio where "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" is recorded to

protest the decision to suspend the show. Some raised signs

saying, "Don't Bend a Knee to Trump," "Resist fascism," "Douse

the mouse" and "Cancel Disney+."

The debate followed Trump on his state visit to Britain on

Thursday.

While standing alongside British Prime Minister Keir

Starmer, Trump called Kimmel untalented and denounced him for

saying a "horrible thing about a great gentleman known as

Charlie Kirk."

Kimmel, a comedian who frequently lampoons Trump, said

during his nine-minute opening monologue on Monday that allies

of Kirk were using his assassination to "score political

points." He also poked fun at Trump after the president turned a

question about his personal mourning of Kirk into promotion for

his new White House ballroom.

"This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he

called a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish,"

Kimmel said.

A 22-year-old technical college student from Utah was

charged with Kirk's murder on Tuesday.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has

used his office and the courts to attack unflattering speech

about him that he has called defamatory or false.

Throughout both his terms, Trump has threatened to rescind

licenses for local broadcast affiliates of the national networks

- licenses that are approved by the Federal Communications

Commission, a nominally independent regulatory body.

Kimmel's suspension came after FCC Chair Brendan Carr

threatened to investigate Kimmel's commentary about Kirk, and

owners of local TV stations had said they would stop

broadcasting his celebrity-filled late-night show.

Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he

returned to the U.S., complained about receiving bad publicity

from broadcasters, saying, "That's something that should be

talked about for licensing. ... All they do is hit Trump."

"I would think maybe their license should be taken away,"

Trump said. "It will be up to Brendan Carr."

Federal law prohibits the FCC from revoking a broadcaster's

license for negative coverage or other speech disliked by the

government.

In the week since Kirk's murder, Kimmel is the most famous

American to face professional blowback for comments condemned by

conservatives as disrespectful of Kirk, alongside media figures,

academic workers, teachers and corporate employees.

Prominent Democrats said Trump was mounting an assault on

free speech rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution's First

Amendment. Republicans have said they are fighting against "hate

speech" that can spiral into violence, and accuse some Kirk

critics of trying to justify his murder.

OBAMA JOINS CHORUS OF CRITICS

Obama urged media companies not to capitulate to government

coercion.

"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," Obama said in a statement.

Writers' and actors' labor unions called the targeting of

Kimmel an unconstitutional attack on the right to disagree. The

American Civil Liberties Union called it an unconstitutional

attempt by the Trump administration to "silence its critics and

control what the American people watch and read."

At the Hollywood demonstration, motorists honked their horns

in support as protesters spilled out from the busy sidewalk and

into the streets.

"This country is going in a really wrong direction,"

protester Laura Brenner said. "When people can't make fun of the

administration, you know that we're really going down a dark

road."

Kirk's death spurred an outpouring of grief among fans who

saw him as a staunch advocate for public debate and conservative

values. Others have challenged or derided Kirk's support for

right-wing politics and Christian nationalism and his derogatory

comments about immigrants, African Americans and transgender

people.

Hours before Kimmel's suspension, Carr, while speaking on

the Benny Johnson podcast, urged local broadcasters to stop

airing the show.

Two of the largest owners of local broadcasters - Nexstar

and Sinclair Broadcast Group, both of which have merger deals

pending before the FCC - responded by announcing they would stop

airing Kimmel's show.

ABC said it was suspending Kimmel's show indefinitely. ABC

owns eight local TV channels subject to FCC licensing, including

broadcasters in the major markets of New York, Los Angeles,

Chicago, Houston and Philadelphia.

Disney ( DIS ) CEO Bob Iger and Disney Entertainment Co-Chair Dana

Walden made the decision to suspend Kimmel's show, a source with

knowledge of the matter said.

(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski, Lisa Richwine and Danielle

Broadway in Los Angeles and Jonathan Allen in New York;

Additional reporting by Steve Holland in Chequers, England, and

David Shepardson and Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington; Writing by

Jonathan Allen and Daniel Trotta; Editing by Alistair Bell,

David Gregorio, Lisa Shumaker and Lincoln Feast.)