ABC, CBS, and NBC were still enraged on Friday morning and evening over unfunny late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s indefinite suspension from ABC over his vile remarks Monday spreading a conspiracy theory about the Charlie Kirk assassination.
And once again, they fiddled with a conspiracy theory of their own that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), local TV conglomerates, and the Trump administration caused this, not Kimmel himself
Unfortunately, CBS Mornings was the only one of the six flagship newscasts to bring up reports that have come from the likes of The Hollywood Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, and even CNN.com that, yes, affiliates and advertisers had raised issues with Kimmel and Disney executives met with Kimmel about a path forward, but he wasn’t interested in apologizing to anyone.
Even though they again didn’t lead with Kimmel, ABC’s Good Morning America was still the strongest in denouncing their own bosses and the Trump administration.
Co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos again led the way, stating in the teases Trump has been “escalat[ing] his attacks” and “threaten[ing] broadcasters.”
Stephanopoulos later couldn’t even go to correspondent Elizabeth Schulze without his own editorializing, forcing her to respond “that’s right, George” and join him, in saying Trump was “ramping up his attacks”:
Schulze tried to defend Kimmel and argue he’s been entirely respectful toward the Kirk family:
A mountain of clips from far-left late-night hosts later, Stephanopoulos came back for more hyperventilating, but had an assist from chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl:
Once again, NBC’s Today wasn’t as forlorn about this as ABC’s GMA, but they followed CBS in leading with it for the second straight day. However, agian, they still didn’t provide the important details about the real pressure (i.e. not the FCC) to force Kimmel’s hand.
After teases with co-host Savannah Guthrie voicing Kimmel’s suspension serving as a “battle over free speech” that’s “escalat[ing],” correspondent Liz Kreutz touted the “growing number of people speaking out in the late night star’s defense” with “Kimmel’s fellow late night hosts rallying behind him.”
Referring to Kimmel’s smear and conspiracy theory about Kirk’s assassin as merely “comments,” Kreutz at least framed the FCC web of claims as something leveled by Kimmel supporters as opposed to an open-and-shut case: “Kimmel’s supporters protesting outside Disney, which owns ABC, saying the company caved to political pressure from the Trump administration, including FCC Chairman Brendan Carr[.]”
That ended there as she herself heavily implied the reason Kimmel has been put on ice was because of government interference (click “expand”):
KREUTZ: On Wednesday before Kimmel’s suspension, Carr threatened to take action against ABC over his remarks. Soon after, two of the country’s largest local television station owners, Nexstar and Sinclair, said they would no longer air the show. It’s more than politics at stake for these major media companies. Nexstar needs the FCC’s approval for a major merger. Just two months ago, CBS announced the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, another Trump critic. At the time, CBS’s parent company Paramount was also seeking a high profile merger. Critics say Carr is aware of the financial dynamics.
KARA SWISHER [on CNN’s AC360, 09/17/25]: Anything you can do to shake them down on behalf of Donald Trump, he’s doing now.
KREUTZ: Democrats promising an investigation and warning the FCC.
CONGRESSMAN ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): There’s going to be a Democratic majority in just over a year and to the FCC chairperson and anyone involved in these dirty deals, get a lawyer and save your records.
KREUTZ: Now, according to Bloomberg, ABC officials met with Jimmy Kimmel yesterday to discuss the show’s future, but the network has still not said when, if ever, it will be back on the air, guys.
To be clear, CBS Mornings was still all-in on mourning Kimmel. For example, co-host and Democrat donor Gayle King touted in a tease: “[T]here’s new backlash over the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel. His colleagues in late night TV, they’re coming to his defense. We’ll show you what they’re saying.”
Moments later, she made her feelings clear by saying “it was really nice to see” Kimmel’s fellow “late-night hosts standing firm with” him and lamented President Trump was “raising the stakes in the showdown with the broadcasters” by discussing the possibility of revoking their licenses (based in part on an allusion to the research by our Rich Noyes).
Correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti included a mountain of clips from Kimmel’s late-night pals, but he also cleared the extremely low bar of mentioning reports that Kimmel had all but told Disney executives he wasn’t going apologize:
Co-host Tony Dokoupil followed with some analysis from CBS News legal analyst Jessica Levinson, which also cleared the still low bar of accurately voicing a view on the right:
Shifting to the evening newscasts and starting again with ABC, things weren’t any better on World News Tonight.
The hair-on-fire attitude subsided in favor of seeking to divide Republicans, but Karl nonetheless omitted reporting about the Kimmel backlash. Once again, the liberal media ignoring what Kimmel actually said and thus seeing no reason why people would complain about it:
NBC Nightly News led with Kimmel as well as the ABC Sacramento market drive-by shots fired.
While stating “the motive is still unknown,” anchor Tom Llamas was certainly heading there:
Going to Kreutz, Llamas tied the shots fired, the Kirk assassination, Kimmel’s suspension, and so-called backlash to Trump in one rhetoric bow: “It has all sparked intense debate over the First Amendment, cancel culture, and safety, and what’s funny, and what’s not.”
This was how Kreutz made the pivot from what was known just after 6:30 p.m. Eastern to the latest on the Kimmel suspension and Trump’s support of Carr:
CBS Evening News was surprisingly bland, but it nonetheless failed to come anywhere near its morning counterpart in the attempt for balance.
One interesting tidbit was co-anchor Maurice DuBois was the only person on any of the six newscasts to mention this fact: “[S]ome [ABC] affiliates, those owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, will be airing a tribute to the conservative activist Charlie Kirk.”
Click “expand” to see highlights from the CBS report, courtesy of chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes:
CORDES: [B]oth the President and his FCC chair have now said that they may not stop with Jimmy Kimmel, that there are other TV host or even journalists that they think do not belong on the air. Critics, including some Republicans, say any move to pull broadcast licenses would be unprecedented and potentially unconstitutional.
PRO-KIMMEL PROTESTERS: Bring Jimmy back! Bring Jimmy back!
CORDES: With Jimmy Kimmel off the air for a third straight day, the fallout is growing. Film and TV writers protested outside ABC headquarters in New York, even as President Trump warned he may go after other networks next.
(....)
CORDES: Today, Michael Eisner, the former CEO of ABCs parent company Disney, slammed his successors, posting, “Where has all the leadership gone? Who will step up for the first amendment?” Disney suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday with these remarks.
JIMMY KIMMEL [on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, 09/15/25]: We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk is anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.
CORDES: The suspension came just hours after Trump FCC chair Brendan Carr appeared to threaten to hold up a major affiliate deal over Kimmel’s comments.
FCC CHAIRMAN BRENDAN CARR [on The Benny Show, 09/17/25]: We can do this easy way or the hard way.
CORDES: Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz called those comments “dangerous as hell.”
(....)
CORDES: But other conservatives argued Kimmel had it coming.
SENATOR JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): I don’t feel sorry for him at all and I think Disney did the right thing.
(....)
DUBOIS: Nancy, we are hearing about a shooting incident at a TV station in Sacramento, California. What do we know about that?
CORDES: Maurice, police are calling this a drive-by shooting. They say there were several shots fired at the TV station from a vehicle before it took off, and, luckily, no one was injured. The motive, they say, is still unclear, but one local law enforcement official said that attacks on the media or any type of business will not be tolerated.
To see the relevant transcripts from September 19, click here and here for ABC, here and here for CBS, and here and here for NBC.
