CNN media reporter Brian Stelter claimed Wednesday that ABC’s decision to place Jimmy Kimmel’s show on hiatus made the United States “less free.”
ABC benched Kimmel on Wednesday after Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcasting announced they would preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live” in the wake of comments about the Sept. 10 assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk made on the late-night talk show by Kimmel Monday. Stelter claimed during an appearance on “Out Front” that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brandon Carr applied pressure to ABC with remarks made during an interview with podcaster Benny Johnson. (RELATED: The Left Keeps Denying Left-Wingers Celebrated Charlie Kirk Assassination Online Despite Examples Everywhere You Look)
“In fact, this was very sudden this afternoon after Carr spoke out on that far-right podcast. Then, some stations that are owned by other companies but affiliated with ABC started to complain to ABC,” Stelter told host Erin Burnett. “We know one of them, Nexstar, which has about two dozen stations with the ABC logo and all the ABC programming. Nexstar publicly announced that they were going to drop Kimmel’s show indefinitely.”
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“Within a matter of minutes, we heard from Disney that the show was being pulled altogether,” Stelter continued. “That suggests to me that other station owners were probably also getting scared. Other station owners were probably also coming up with backup plans not to air Kimmel’s show.”
Republican Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah outlined some of the evidence recovered in the course of the manhunt for Tyler Robinson, who is accused of firing the shot that fatally wounded Kirk during both a Friday press conference and on Sunday shows, including ABC’s “This Week.” Ammunition in the rifle was reportedly etched with left-wing slogans, including “Bella Ciao,” a popular song among left-wing militias in Italy during World War II.
“America is a less free place if late-night comedians cannot do and say what they want,” Stelter claimed. “Of course, they can be tuned out. People can change the channel. That’s how we vote. That’s how we have our say in America. But this really does have a chilling effect across the American media.”
Kimmel previously stirred controversy with comments made during his show regarding a surge of vandalism at Tesla dealerships during the early months of the Trump administration, when Elon Musk served as a White House advisor. (RELATED: Former FBI Agent Says Biden Admin Created ‘Factories Of Indoctrination’ That Killed Charlie Kirk)
Comments that celebrated, mocked or justified Kirk’s assassination took place in various social media venues online, especially on platforms like BlueSky, leading to numerous people, including MSNBC political analyst Matthew Dowd and Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah, being fired.
CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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