President Donald Trump is renewing calls this week to DisneyABC-owned ABC will pull comedian Jimmy Kimmel from the airwaves in another test for late-night television during the Republican president’s second term.
While this isn’t the first time Kimmel has faced backlash over a show monologue — his show was briefly suspended in September after the broadcast station’s owners threatened to disrupt the program over comments about the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk — the new challenges now fall under newly installed Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro, who took the helm last month.
Trump and First Lady Melania Trump called on ABC to fire the late-night host after he called the First Lady a “future widow” during a comedy sketch last week, days before an alleged assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Melania Trump said in a post on X that Kimmel’s comments were “hateful and violent rhetoric” and “aimed at dividing our country.” Shortly after, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that Kimmel’s comments amounted to a “call for violence” and were “way beyond the bounds.”
In a subsequent monologue Monday night, Kimmel addressed the backlash, saying the remark was “a joke about their age difference.” He added that it was “not, far from it, a call for assassination. And they know it.”
White House communications director Steven Cheung said in an article published Tuesday that Kimmel should be “shunned” for “doubling down on that joke instead of doing the decent thing by apologizing.”
Representatives for Disney did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Growing political pressure
The incident is the latest in a series of battles between Trump and traditional media — and late-night television in particular — that has left the industry in a precarious situation.
In September, broadcast station owners Nextstar And Sinclair said they would preempt Kimmel’s show, airing other content instead during his time slot, after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr raised an issue with Kimmel’s comments about Kirk.
Representatives for Nextstar And Sinclair declined to comment on Kimmel’s latest comments.
Carr suggested in September that broadcast stations’ licenses were at risk of being revoked, sparking debate over First Amendment protections and the responsibility of national broadcasters like ABC to broadcast generally acceptable content.
Disney returned Kimmel’s late-night show to the air within days of the suspension, and Kimmel apologized for the comments during his first show.
But this back-and-forth could set a precedent of sorts if the Trump administration continues to pressure media companies.
On Tuesday, Semafor reported that the FCC was preparing a review of Disney’s broadcast licenses, but cited a source saying the timing was not related to Kimmel’s monologue. Representatives for the FCC and Disney did not immediately respond to requests for comment on this report.
Last year, PrimordialCBS-owned CBS announced it would end “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” while the company awaits FCC approval for its merger with Skydance. The merger got the green light from regulators shortly after the announcement.
Although Disney has said it has no near-term plans for mergers or acquisitions, it has had some run-ins with the Trump administration.
In December 2024, ABC News agreed to pay $15 million for Trump’s future presidential library to settle a defamation lawsuit filed by the president against the network and anchor George Stephanopoulos.
Last year, ABC News also cut ties with national correspondent Terry Moran after he said Trump and senior White House adviser Stephen Miller were “world-class” haters in a social media post.