Jimmy Kimmel’s Suspension and Trump’s FCC

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Jimmy Kimmel’s Suspension and Trump’s FCC

The Journal. | Hosts: Ryan Knudsen & Jessica Mendoza
Date: September 19, 2025
Produced by The Wall Street Journal & Spotify Studios

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Overview

This episode explores the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show after controversial monologues about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, and unpacks the dramatic, politically charged dynamics now governing the relationship between major media companies, government regulators, and the Trump administration. Central to the episode are the powers wielded by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, the pressure exerted by local broadcast affiliates, and the escalating campaign by President Trump against the media. The hosts and reporters analyze what Kimmel’s suspension means for free speech, government intervention, and the culture wars affecting American business and entertainment.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Incident: Kimmel’s Monologue and Backlash

• Kimmel’s remarks: Jimmy Kimmel, as often, critiqued President Trump and commented on the “grieving process” following Charlie Kirk’s murder.
• Political timing: The monologue came at a moment when the conservative community was mourning Kirk, and was perceived by many on the right as crossing a line.

"Kimmel goes after Trump almost every day on his show. But this time, conservatives felt that his monologue took things too far."
— Ryan Knudsen [01:04]

2. Disney’s Suspension of Kimmel

• Public response: Disney (ABC’s parent company) suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live indefinitely, appearing to react to public and political pressure.
• Broader factors: Reporting reveals pressure extended beyond public outcry, featuring direct threats and regulatory leverage from the federal government.

"There are questions in here about what is free speech. There are questions about what is Trump doing to wield the federal government's power."
— Maggie Severns [01:34]

3. Brendan Carr and the FCC’s Role

• Carr’s narrative: Brendan Carr, FCC Chairman, accused Kimmel of misleading the public regarding the shooter’s political allegiance and labeled the monologue “sickest conduct possible.”
• Regulatory leverage: Carr implied that the FCC could make things difficult for broadcasters like ABC/Disney unless they acted against Kimmel.

"Look, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct... or there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead."
— Brendan Carr (via Kimmel imitation/clip) [04:55]

• Background on Carr: Carr is described as a “Trump warrior,” an aggressive, vocal, and publicly partisan regulator, and a contributor to the controversial “Project 2025” Republican policy book.
• The 'public interest' standard: Carr’s approach marks a sharp departure from historical FCC impartiality, seeking to actively revoke licenses from broadcasters accused of “news distortion.” Historically, such revocations have been extremely rare.

"For decades, that public interest idea has basically kind of sat on the sidelines. ...Brendan Carr has said we should be looking at this."
— Maggie Severns [06:58]

4. Pressure from Broadcast Affiliates

• Affiliate action: Local station groups, particularly Nexstar and Sinclair (operating more than 60 ABC affiliates), announced they would not air Kimmel’s show, citing the “offensive and insensitive” comments about Kirk.
• Business context: Nexstar, seeking FCC approval on a multibillion-dollar deal, stressed it had no communication with the FCC regarding its decision but the timing suggests intense indirect pressure.

"Nexstar said that it was not going to carry Kimmel's show. ...Mr. Kimmel's comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national discourse."
— Maggie Severns [11:46]

• Sinclair’s move: Chose to air a special in Kirk’s memory rather than Kimmel.
• Carr’s approval: Carr praised these moves, linking them to “serving the interests of their community” rather than “progressive foie gras coming out from New York and Hollywood.”
  [See quote below]

5. Inside Disney’s Calculus

• Escalating pressure: ABC/Disney leadership (including CEO Bob Iger) viewed affiliate revolt and public threats as major risks; there was concern that Kimmel’s planned Wednesday show would escalate matters.
• Safety concerns: Show staff reportedly received threats.
• Final decision: Disney elected to suspend the show, with Kimmel making no public statements.

6. Trump’s Response and Media Crackdown

• Trump celebrates: The President publicly celebrated Kimmel’s removal, called for further cancellations (specifically at NBC), and urged the FCC to consider revoking licenses from oppositional networks.

"They give me only bad publicity or press. I mean, they're getting a license. I would think maybe they're license should be taken away. It will be up to Brendan Carr."
— Donald Trump [14:40]

• Unprecedented regulatory alignment: Previous norm involved pushback by career officials. Now, Carr openly subscribes to Trump’s “unitary executive” theory, supporting presidential control of agencies that historically saw themselves as independent.

"Here what we have is a person who runs one of these agencies that used to see itself as independent saying, I don't believe that. And I'm happy to work with the President..."
— Maggie Severns [15:36]

7. Broader Business and Cultural Trends

• Business compliance: Severns highlights a broader trend of businesses quickly falling in line with Trump administration pressure, not just media but universities, law firms, and others.
• Free speech concerns: The episode positions Kimmel’s suspension within a larger struggle over free expression and the remaking of American cultural sectors.

"This is another iteration of these kind of battles to remake American culture that we're seeing across the board. ...If the country looks very different two years from now as Trump finds other sectors that he wants to get involved in, I wouldn't be surprised."
— Maggie Severns [16:20]

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Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• "Kimmel delivered what a lot of people would expect to be kind of a normal Jimmy Kimmel monologue, right. Which included criticism of Trump." — Maggie Severns [00:23]

• "When you look at the conduct that has taken place by Jimmy Kimmel, it appears to be some of the sickest conduct possible." — Brendan Carr (clip) [04:03]

• "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." — Brendan Carr (clip) [04:55]

• "Nexstar... stood up and said, look, we have the license, and we don't want to run this anymore... So there's more work to go. But I'm very glad to see that America's broadcasters are standing up to serve the interests of their community. We don't just have this progressive foie gras coming out from New York and Hollywood." — Brendan Carr (clip) [12:37]

• "They give me only bad publicity or press. I mean, they're getting a license. I would think maybe they're license should be taken away. It will be up to Brendan Carr." — Donald Trump [14:40]

• "This is historically very unprecedented from the FCC. ...the executive branch should all basically be under the control of the President." — Maggie Severns [15:36]

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Important Segment Timestamps

• 00:00–01:12 — Kimmel’s monologue and conservative backlash
• 01:20–02:02 — Disney announces suspension; questions on free speech and Trump’s influence
• 03:35–05:11 — Brendan Carr’s media appearances and threats
• 06:01–07:32 — Carr’s vision for a “muscular FCC”; broadcast licenses and the “public interest”
• 08:54–09:24 — Carr’s role in recent media mergers and using FCC leverage
• 11:08–12:01 — Affiliate pressure from Nexstar and Sinclair; business connections to decisions
• 13:05–13:25 — Inside Disney/ABC’s executive deliberations and safety concerns
• 14:40–15:10 — Trump applauds the suspension; calls for further license revocations
• 16:09–17:05 — The broader trend: aligning business, media, and government power

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Conclusion

The episode draws a vivid portrait of how media, regulation, and political power are intersecting under the Trump administration. The removal of Jimmy Kimmel’s show, at the nexus of shifting FCC priorities and intense public and political pressure, becomes a symbol for the new, more direct, and partisan approach to media regulation and business compliance. The discussion raises urgent questions about free speech, the future of independent media, and the changing balance between business and political power in the U.S.

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Transcript

[Jimmy Kimmel]

From Hollywood, it's Jimmy Kimmel Live.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Monday's episode of the late night show Jimmy Kimmel Live started off like most other days.

[Jimmy Kimmel]

Hi, everybody.

[Maggie Severns]

Thanks very much.

[Jimmy Kimmel]

Welcome on Kimmy.

[Ryan Knudsen]

I'm Kimmel took the stage in front of a live audience and launched into a monologue.

[Maggie Severns]

Kimmel delivered what a lot of people would expect to be kind of a normal Jimmy Kimmel monologue, right. Which included criticism of Trump.

[Ryan Knudsen]

That's our colleague Maggie Severns.

[Maggie Severns]

But it was happening at this extraordinary moment where people are grieving the death of Charlie Kirk.

[Brendan Carr]

We hit 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 doing everything they can to score political points from it. In between the finger pointing, there was grieving.

[Ryan Knudsen]

On Friday, Kimmel was also critical of President Trump's grieving process.

[Brendan Carr]

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. Okay.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Kimmel goes after Trump almost every day on his show. But this time, conservatives felt that his monologue took things too far.

[Maggie Severns]

This is a crowd that has already been offended many times by Jimmy Kimmel. And this became the straw that broke the camel's back.

[Ryan Knudsen]

On Wednesday, Disney said it was suspending Kimmel's show indefinitely. On its face, it looked like a straightforward case of a company responding to public pressure. But Maggie says there was actually a lot more to it than that.

[Maggie Severns]

There are questions in here about what is free speech. There are questions about what is Trump doing to wield the federal government's power. And it all kind of leads to this right now, this one agency and this one bureaucrat, Brendan Carr, who feels like he has these legal and bureaucratic tools to really carry out Trump's agenda.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Welcome to the Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Ryan knudsen. It's Friday, September 19th. Coming up on the show, Jimmy Kimmel's suspension and Trump's escalating campaign against the media.

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[Maggie Severns]

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[Ryan Knudsen]

Among the many conservatives calling for Jimmy Kimmel to be reprimanded for his comments was Brendan Carr, the head of the Federal Communications Commission.

[Maggie Severns]

Brendan Carr, who's the chairman of the sec, went on Benny Johnson's podcast. Benny Johnson being a big right wing media figure. Mr. Chairman, thank you so much. On our program. And he said this is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Disney owns abc, the network that makes Jimmy Kimmel show. Here's Carr.

[Jimmy Kimmel]

You know, when you look at the conduct that has taken place by Jimmy Kimmel, it appears to be some of the sickest conduct possible.

[Ryan Knudsen]

On the podcast, Carr said that Kimmel was misleading the public by suggesting that the Charlie Kirk shooter was a Trump supporter. The shooter's mother has told investigators that her son had grown more left leaning over the last year.

[Jimmy Kimmel]

Appears to be an action by Jimmy Kimmel to play into that narrative that this was somehow a MAGA or Republican motivated person. If that's what happened here with his conduct, that is, that is really, really sick.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Carr's criticism carried a bit more weight than other conservative critics because his agency, the fcc, has regulatory oversight over broadcasters like abc.

[Maggie Severns]

And he said we can do this the easy way or the hard way.

[Jimmy Kimmel]

I mean, look, 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.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Let's talk about Brendan Carr for a moment. Who is he?

[Maggie Severns]

So on the one hand, Brendan Carr is this kind of Trump warrior who says that he can wield this huge power over broadcast and network news. On the other hand, he is a Washington bureaucrat who's been working at the FCC for more than 10 years. He's taken a very different approach from people before him and he has been very vocal online. He's not afraid to be seen as political and he's not afraid to be seen as very closely allied with the President.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Carr is all in on Trump. He's even Been seen wearing a golden lapel pin with Trump's face. And he also wrote a chapter in Project 2025, that controversial Republican blueprint on what the FCC should be doing.

[Maggie Severns]

Yeah, he did. He wrote a chapter on what the FCC should be doing that outlined a much more kind of muscular FCC.

[Ryan Knudsen]

One of the ways CARS has sought to flex the FCC's muscles is by using its power over granting broadcast licenses. Can you explain what broadcast licenses are and why they matter to a TV network?

[Maggie Severns]

Yeah, they matter because a broadcast license lets you use the airwaves. Right. The airwaves are out there, and someone needed to just, like with radio, kind of regulate who gets them. And there's this idea written into the law by Congress that if you have a license to use the airwaves, there are certain responsibilities then that you carry. Right, right.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Because the government is basically giving these companies a slice of the airwaves. And so the command is that they ought to be using that piece, that public resource that nobody else can use in the public interest.

[Maggie Severns]

Yes. And for decades, that public interest idea has basically kind of sat on the sidelines. There was one time that one of our reporters could find that that's actually been used, and it was a station in the south in the early 1970s that had its broadcast license revoked over promoting segregation. And so, you know, for a year, more than a year, Brendan Carr has said we should be looking at this. Like, these licenses, he would say, are not sacred cows. We can take away someone's license if they aren't acting in the public interest. The question then is, what is the public interest?

[Ryan Knudsen]

Maggie and our colleague Joe Flint recently interviewed Carr at his office in Washington, D.C. carr told them about what he thinks is and is not in the public interest.

[Jimmy Kimmel]

Well, it's not going after them for favorable or unfavorable coverage. There's lots of favorable coverage that they do as well. It's holding it to that, you know, public interest standard. And one of the elements of that public interest standard is news distortion.

[Ryan Knudsen]

The FCC has a rule against news distortion which says broadcasters aren't allowed to use the public airwaves to knowingly spread blatantly inaccurate information about a major news event. The rule has rarely been applied. Local stations that carry ABC need a license to broadcast over the airwaves, so losing those rights would be very detrimental to their business. Those broadcast licenses also give CAR another point of leverage over mergers. In order for a broadcast license to be transferred to another company, like in the case of a merger, the FCC has to sign off Take for example, earlier this year when Skydance wanted to merge with Paramount, car's FCC got to oversee that. And before the deal was approved, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle a Trump lawsuit against CBS, one of Paramount's networks. The company also hired a Trump ally to keep an eye out for signs of bias in its coverage. Here's Carr talking about the merger on cnbc.

[Jimmy Kimmel]

The thing that was really important to me in all of this was that the new owners of CBS came in and said it's time for a change. We're going to reorient it towards getting rid of bias to looking at fact based reporting. They said they're going to get rid of invidious forms of DEI discrimination.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Well, so getting back to this Kimmel situation, it seems like when Carr said we can do this the easy way or the hard way, he's implying that there's a lot the FCC can do to put pressure on abc.

[Maggie Severns]

The implication there is, hey, I have all these levers and I'm not afraid to use them. So these large companies have to interact with the fcc. And I don't think it's a stretch to interpret that as a threat from cars saying, hey, I can make your life much harder.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Carr didn't end up needing to do things the hard way. Coming up inside Disney's decision to pull the plug on Kimmel.

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[Ryan Knudsen]

The FCC wasn't the only player with leverage over Disney. ABC's parent company, two of its biggest affiliate partners were also dialing up the pressure.

[Maggie Severns]

You have these national companies, abc, NBC, cbs. But when you think about what actually happens when you're watching network news, you're watching your local affiliate, right? And those local affiliates are actually carrying the national broadcasts. And so there's a company that owns that local affiliate and Then there's a national company like NBC or CBS that's being carried on the local channel.

[Ryan Knudsen]

One of the affiliates that started pressuring Disney is called Nexstar. It operates more than 30 ABC stations around the country.

[Maggie Severns]

Nexstar said that it was not going to carry Kimmel's show. So the president of Nexstar came out and said Mr. Kimmel's comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national discourse.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Nexstar is currently seeking approval from the FCC to acquire another network of local stations in a deal valued at $6.2 billion. The company said it had no communication with the FCC or any government agency prior to making the decision to pull Kimmel's show. The other affiliate to take action was Sinclair, which owns another 30 ABC stations. Sinclair said that instead of airing Kimmel's show, it would air a special during that time slot in remembrance of Kirk. Carr at the FCC later applauded these moves during an interview on Fox News.

[Jimmy Kimmel]

Nexstar, as you noted, stood up and said, look, we have the license, and we don't want to run this anymore. We don't think it serves the interests of our community. Sinclair did the same thing. So there's more work to go. But I'm very glad to see that America's broadcasters are standing up to serve the interests of their community. We don't just have this progressive foie gras coming out from New York and Hollywood.

[Ryan Knudsen]

As complaints from nexstar and Sinclair intensified the situation inside, ABC executives were feeling the pressure.

[Maggie Severns]

So my colleague Joe Flint, who's been reporting on this, talks about how in one of his stories, this news really kind of shot up the ladder at abc. And it was a conversation, you know, that the chief executive, Bob Iger and others are having and that, you know, nexstar's decision to stop carrying the show was one of the factors that really influenced their actions.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Disney executives were worried that what Kimmel had planned to say for Wednesday's show might make things worse. According to people familiar with the matter, Kimmel had planned to tell the audience that his words on Kirk had been purposefully twisted by some members of the MAGA movement. The company was also growing concerned about the safety of the show staff, who had started receiving threatening messages. And so Disney made the call. Kimmel's show was being suspended indefinitely. Kimmel has not publicly commented since his suspension. After Kimmel was taken off the air, Trump took to social media to celebrate. He said it was, quote, great news for America. And that Kimmel had, quote, zero talent. He also appeared to call in another network, NBC, to cancel two other major late night shows, Late Night With Seth Meyers and the Tonight show starring Jimmy Fallon. That didn't stop Meyers and Fallon from weighing in, though. Myers criticized Kimmel's suspension as part of a crackdown on free speech. Fallon said he hopes Kimmel comes back on air. An NBC Universal spokeswoman declined to comment. Yesterday, Trump also told reporters that the FCC should revoke broadcasting licenses of networks that are, quote, against him.

[Brendan Carr]

They give me only bad publicity or press. I mean, they're getting a license. I would think maybe they're licensed, should be taken away. It will be up to Brendan Kerr.

[Maggie Severns]

This is something that Trump has talked about for a while, you know, when he was on the campaign trail. This, you know, railing at the media and railing at broadcasters like CBS and ABC is something he did often. And so as we move forward with this, in this case, the threat of action seems to have been enough when it came to Jimmy Kimmel.

[Ryan Knudsen]

This also seems like something that in the first Trump administration, there were a lot of government officials who, if Trump would say something like this, that all the broadcasters should have their licenses revoked because they're against me, there'd be people in the administration and in other government agencies that would push back on that and wouldn't go along with that. But now with Brendan Carr, he has someone who seems to be also just as willing to do something like that.

[Maggie Severns]

Yeah, we've talked about how this is historically very unprecedented from the fcc. And Brendan Carr, if you talk to him, he's someone who is subscribed to this theory of the unitary executive, this idea that the executive branch should all basically be under the control of the President, that something like the FCC or the Fed is not actually an independent agency. And here what we have is a person who runs one of these agencies that used to see itself as independent saying, I don't believe that. And I'm happy to work with the President and I'm happy to carry out his agenda and figure out what I can do.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Kimmel isn't the only person to get in trouble at his job over making comments about Charlie Kirk's death. The Wall Street Journal has also reported that many people are being fired for making comments online.

[Maggie Severns]

So a lot of my coverage has to do with this intersection between business and Washington. And since the start of the year, I've actually been quite surprised with the speed at which business has kind of fallen in line with things that the President asked or the speed with which people donated to Trump's inauguration. This is another iteration of that, another iteration of these kind of battles to remake American culture that we're seeing across the board. We're seeing them at universities, at law firms. And I wouldn't be surprised, given the way things are going, if the country looks very different two years from now as Trump finds other sectors that he wants to get involved in.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Before we go, heads up that episode two of our new incredible series, Camp Swamp Road is out on Sunday. The first episode is in our feed. That's all for today, Friday, September 19th. Additional reporting in this episode by Joe Flint, Isabella Simonetti and Suzanne Vernica. The Journal is a co production of Spotify and the Wall Street Journal. The show is made by Kathryn Brewer, Piagetkari, Carlos Garcia, Rachel Humphries, Sophie Codner, Matt Kwong, Colin McNulty, Jessica Mendoza, Annie Minoff, Laura Morris, Enrique Perez de la Rosa, Sarah Platt, Allen Rodriguez Espinosa, Heather Rogers, Piers Singhy, Jeevika Verma, Lisa Wang, Catherine Whalen, Tatiana Zamis and me, Ryan Knudsen. Our engineers are Griffin Tanner, Nathan Singapak and Peter Leonard. Our theme music is by so Wiley. Additional music this week from Katherine Anderson, Peter Leonard, Bobby Lord, Emma Munger, Griffin Tanner and Blue Dot Sessions. Fact checking this week by Kate Gallagher. Thanks for listening. See you on Sunday.