The picture of media freedom around the world has been gray for a long time, and in recent days censorship is also feared by many in the "land of the free".
After being more than two decades long late-night American comedian Jimmy Kimmel's show pulled from ABC television program for political comments, now president of the United States of America Donald tramp suggests that some television stations that are "against him" should perhaps have their "licenses revoked".
"I read somewhere that the TV stations were 97 percent against me, again, 97 percent negative, and yet I won easily (in last year's election)," Trump told reporters in returning from a visit to Great Britain.
"They only report me negatively. And they get their licenses. I would think that maybe their licenses should be revoked," the American president added.
"Cancelling" Jimmy Kimmel
The story of censorship and freedom of the media in the USA is again relevant due to the case of comedian Jimmy Kimmel, who has hosted a show on ABC TV for more than twenty years. Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Or at least he was taking her until this Tuesday.
Namely, the problem arose when he hinted in a monologue on Monday (September 15) that the killer of conservative influencer and podcaster Charlie Kirk was actually a Trump supporter. Officials, however, said he was "indoctrinated with left-wing ideology."
Kimmel, 57, also said that "the MAGA gang is trying desperately to portray this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them" and that they are trying to "score political points out of it."
He then showed a video of Donald Trump, who, when asked by a journalist how he was doing after Kirk's death, said "very well" and the very next moment started talking bizarrely about the construction of a new ballroom in the White House. Kimmel compared Trump's reaction to the death of his 31-year-old political associate to "a four-year-old child mourning a goldfish."
The famous comedian's statement caused a storm of negative reactions among Trump's supporters, so the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) also reacted, threatening ABC with regulatory measures.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr accused Kimmel of "the most sick behavior" and said firms like ABC can "find ways to change their behavior and take action ... or there will be more work for the FCC."
ABC, which is owned by Disney, took the regulator's cue. So, after more than 20 years of broadcasting, he promptly removed the comedian from the program "indefinitely".
By the way, Kimmel condemned the attack on Kirk and immediately sent support to his family after the shooting.
Whoever was joking, was joking.
While conservative circles applauded the decision to cancel Kimmel's show, influential politicians from among Democrats condemned the move as a violation of the First Amendment, which guarantees American citizens freedom of speech.
Democratic congressmen condemned the Trump administration's threats against political critics and introduced a bill that would further protect free speech from the arbitrariness of state officials. However, there is very little chance that this proposal will pass the legislative procedure in the majority Republican House of Representatives.
Former US President Barack Obama said the Trump administration had taken the "culture of termination" to a "new and dangerous level, routinely threatening media companies with regulatory action unless they silence or fire journalists and commentators they don't like."
And numerous colleagues, presenters and comedians, stood by Kimmel. Comedian Jon Stewart on his show The Daily Show joked about the suppression of free speech under the current administration.
He described himself as a "patriotically obedient leader" and his program as "aligned with the administration". He then called Trump a "dear leader" who "has graced England with his legendary charm and brilliance."
"This is open censorship. With an autocrat, you can't budge an inch," host and comedian Stephen Colbert said on his rival CBS show.
By the way, Colbert is the first victim of Trump's crusade against comedians. After numerous criticisms from the Trump administration, CBS announced in July that it would not renew Colbert's show for the next season, citing financial pressures as the reason.
On the other hand, Fox's late-night host Greg Gatfeld defended ABC's decision, claiming that Kimmel "deliberately and misleadingly" blamed Kirk's "allies and friends" for his death.
"Jimmy and Seth left"
Although ABC's decision to cancel Kimmel's show because of one statement seems rash and even excessive at first glance, everything indicates that such moves are by no means thoughtless. In fact, US President Donald Trump has not hidden his intolerance towards this comedian for a long time. When CBS announced it would not renew Stephen Colbert's show, Trump gloated on social media:
"I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. He has less talent than even Stephen Colbert!," Trump wrote online on July 18 Social Truth.
Something similar is happening again. After canceling Kimmel's show, Trump declared that it was "great news for America", so he fired back at two other comedians who regularly criticize him - Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers.
"That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on fake news NBC. And their ratings are also disastrous. Do it, NBC!" Trump said.
Brendan Carr's Turn
Interesting in this whole story is the drastic change in the attitudes of the first man of the FCC, Brendan Carr, who is probably the direct cause of the termination of Kimmel's show due to threats to ABC television. Otherwise, this body is in charge of issuing licenses and supervises the media, but must not encroach on freedom of speech. The only room for them to act is when someone knowingly "markets fake news", which was probably used as a justification for canceling Kimmel's show.
Brendan Carr used to say otherwise. For example, since in 2022 then-President Joe Biden declared that "a good satire about our leaders, about our society, is a quintessentially American thing," Carr agreed with the then-President's words.
"President Biden is right. Political satire is one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech. It challenges those in power, and with the help of humor, draws more people into the discussion. That's why people in positions of influence have always tried to censor it," Carr wrote.
Just don't tell any jokes.
Trump has never made it a secret that his second term as president will be a revenge campaign. In March 2023, a year and a half before he would enter the White House for the second time, he told a gathering of ultraconservative Republicans in Maryland: "I am your warrior, I am your justice. To everyone who has been cheated in some way or harmed by someone, I say: I am your revenge."
And indeed, the devil seems to have taken the joke. Although it is the Republicans who have been advocating for freedom of speech for years and fighting against the "cancel" culture, considering it too "sensitive" and "wook", since Trump's return to the White House, freedom of speech in the USA has been rapidly restricted.
After Kirk's murder, some Republicans launched a campaign to punish his critics, which literally goes as far as calling employers of personalities who criticized Kirk on the networks to fire them. According to an article published in "Atlantic", so far more than 100 people have lost their jobs. And US Vice President JD Vance said: "Expose them, and hell, call their employers too."
When Colbert lost his job this summer, it was Jimmy Kimmel who turned to the president of the most powerful country in the world.
"You sensitive, chubby little cups of tea. You want us to be fired for making jokes about you? I thought you were against 'kensel culture'. I thought that was your story. When did you become so 'wooky'?"
