Donald Trump finally weighed in on Jimmy Kimmel‘s return to the air on Tuesday, with a not-so-veiled threat that his administration would still go after ABC.
Trump posted on Truth Social, “I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back. The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled! Something happened between then and now because his audience is GONE, and his ‘talent’ was never there. 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. He is yet another arm of the DNC 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. Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative. A true bunch of losers! Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad Ratings.”
Kimmel was not fired, but his show was taken off the air indefinitely, according to ABC’s announcement.
In December, Disney settled Trump’s defamation lawsuit against ABC and George Stephanopoulos. Trump sued after the This Week anchor said in March, 2024 that the then-former president was found liable for rape, when in fact he was found liable for sexual assault.
Trump’s threat to go after an outlet for an illegal campaign contribution would be a novel legal case, but networks have enjoyed a rather broad press exemption from campaign finance laws. And the Supreme Court, in its 2010 ruling in favor of the conservative group Citizens United, seemingly expanded the exemption. The case was over Citizens United’s documentary Hillary The Movie, made by Dave Bossie, one of Trump’s allies.
Moreover, talk shows like Kimmel’s have also been exempt from FCC equal time laws, which otherwise require that stations provide time to opposing candidates upon request.
Last week, after Trump’s FCC chairman Brendan Carr warned the network’s stations over potential agency action, the network pulled the show. Trump celebrated the move, and called for NBC to drop Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers.
But soon after, there was a backlash to the network’s decision, with Barack Obama and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner calling out the company for caving to Trump administration pressure, and conservatives like Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) saying that the FCC chairman went to far in trying to use his authority to stifle speech.
On Monday, Carr tried to clarify his remarks, claiming that he was not threatening to revoke the licenses of ABC stations unless Kimmel was fired. Later in the day, ABC announced that it was returning Kimmel’s show to its schedule.
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