In what many have called an egregious violation of free speech, both the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and major ABC affiliate groups Sinclair and Nexstar confirmed on Wednesday that late-night host Jimmy Kimmel has been suspended indefinitely after mocking Donald Trump and MAGA’s reaction to Charlie Kirk’s murder.

Despite the clear and confirmed motivation for kicking Kimmel off the air, Donald Trump ranted in a recent press conference that Kimmel was actually punished due to bad ratings and “lack of talent.”

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The president had been pressed by a reporter about whether free speech is under attack in the United States. His response is extremely disprovable, considering the wide availability of statements from the involved parties about Kimmel’s dismissal.

Trump: Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings and he said a horrible thing about a gentleman known as Charlie Kirk. Free speech or not, he was fired for lack of talent. pic.twitter.com/3vBucaH6F3

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 18, 2025

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FCC chair Brendan Carr directly threatened ABC after Kimmel’s comments: “[This] appears to be an action by Jimmy Kimmel to play into the narrative that [Kirk’s killer] was somehow a MAGA or Republican-motivated person,” Carr reportedly said during a podcast appearance. “What people don’t understand is that the broadcasters… have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest,” seemingly implying that denigrating Republicans is not in the public interest.

“When we see stuff like this, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to change conduct, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

Kimmel did not actually make any claims about the killer’s political leanings, but rather about how right-wingers have reacted to the murder.

“The MAGA gang [is] desperately trying to characterize [the suspect as] anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said in his monologue about Kirk’s slaying.

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