LOS ANGELES: US President Donald Trump on Thursday celebrated the suspension of talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel from the airwaves and said TV broadcasters should lose their licences 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 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-owned broadcaster ABC said on Wednesday it was yanking the late-night comedy show "Jimmy Kimmel Live" indefinitely following conservative uproar over his Monday monologue. Writers, performers, former US 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 show's suspension. Some raised signs saying, "Don’t Bend a Knee to Trump”, "Resist fascism”, "Douse the mouse” and "Cancel Disney+”.
On late-night television, Stephen Colbert kicked off "The Late Show" on CBS with a parody of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" song "Be our guest". He replaced the chorus with the words with "shut your trap".
"Jimmy, I stand with you and your staff 100 per cent", Colbert said. CBS said in July it was cancelling Colbert's show in what it called a business decision but critics saw as a move to please Trump.
On Comedy Central, Jon Stewart was introduced as the "patriotically obedient host" of the "new, government-approved 'Daily Show'. He mockingly praised "our great father" Trump.
"The visit to England couldn't have gone better for our president", Stewart said of Trump's state visit. "Finally, a country affording our great leader the respect and deference that any sun god would command".
During his visit to Britain, 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 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 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 licences for local broadcast affiliates of the national networks — licences 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, complained about receiving bad publicity from broadcasters, saying, "That's something that should be talked about for licensing. ... All they do is hit Trump". — Reuters
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