Topline
Democratic leaders are alleging the decision by ABC (owned by Disney) to pull talk show host Jimmy Kimmel off the air was largely orchestrated by Donald Trump and his Federal Communications Commission head, Brendan Carr, with some calling it a possible “corrupt pay-to-play scheme.”
Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Brendan Carr testifies before the House Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government on oversight of the FCC, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on May 21, 2025. (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
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Key Facts
Carr “engaged in the corrupt abuse of power” and “disgraced the office he holds by bullying ABC” and “should resign immediately,” according to a Thursday statement signed by six Democrat leaders, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif.
Speculating whether the move was “part of a corrupt pay-to-play scheme,” they threatened to issue a congressional subpoena against “media companies” to “learn the truth” about why Kimmel was indefinitely suspended Wednesday.
The Democrats did not clarify what scheme they were talking about, but Nexstar Media Group—which pulled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from its ABC-affiliated stations, leading ABC parent organization the Walt Disney Company to nix the show—seeks FCC approval of a $6.2 billion merger with the broadcast group Tegna.
Carr threatened potential consequences for media companies behind Kimmel’s show, saying on a podcast Wednesday that certain companies would need to “take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Several other prominent Democrats also described the Trump administration’s intervention in the Kimmel controversy as a blatant overreach of free speech, with former President Barack Obama tweeting Thursday, “after years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren told CNN Thursday “we know there was federal interference . . . we saw the government step up and give a hard shove and then we saw a compliant company turn around and suspend Mr. Kimmel,” adding “that truly undermines the whole premise of the First Amendment.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.