The indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s 22-year run on late-night TV is the latest sign of the pressure US media businesses are under to bend to the rightwing views endorsed by Donald Trump, or face commercial cancellation.
The decision by the Disney-owned ABC followed Kimmel’s on-air accusations that the Republicans were doing everything they could to score political points from the killing of Charlie Kirk. It came after one of the biggest owners of TV stations in the US, Nexstar, had said it would replace Kimmel’s show for the foreseeable future.
Nexstar’s rapid decision to announce it would replace Kimmel’s show came as it attempts to get clearance from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), run by a Trump appointee, to buy a rival, Tegna, in a $6.2bn deal.
A second operator, Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns more ABC stations than any other conglomerate, took the same stance as Nexstar and also said it would run a Kirk tribute in Kimmel’s timeslot on Friday.
Graph showing press freedom in different countries
Sinclair is also urging the FCC to deregulate, which it emphasised on Thursday, saying action needed to be taken to “address control held over local broadcasters by the big national networks”.
Brendan Carr, chair of the FCC and known for his gold lapel-pin bust of the president, had already warned of fines or the loss of broadcast licences if the show remained on air.
Trump posted on social media that the suspension was “great news for America” and that ABC had shown “courage” by cancelling Kimmel.
The suspension marked the latest backdown for Disney after the media conglomerate struck a $16m (£11.8m) deal in December to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump over comments made by the ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos. The New York Times reported that the decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel Live! was taken by Disney’s chief executive, Bob Iger, and the company’s television chief, Dana Walden.
Disney could also do with being looked on favourably by the Trump administration as it seeks a green light for its sports network ESPN to get clearance to buy the NFL Network.
Two months ago CBS News cancelled The Late Show with Stephen Colbert days after the host said its parent company, Paramount, had paid a “big fat bribe” for settling a lawsuit with Trump for $16m over the US president’s claim the news outlet deceptively edited a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, then the Democrat presidential candidate.
Days later the FCC agreed the controversial $8.4bn merger of Paramount, which owns assets including the eponymous Hollywood film studio and Nickelodeon cable channel, with Skydance Media.
“It is the court of King Trump,” said Alice Enders, a media analyst. “The crucial lever is the FCC, with its control over deals and licences. Any company that wants to do a deal, protect or expand its commercial business, it has to toe the line. There are no criteria other than to support the official line.”
Earlier this month Paramount appointed Kenneth Weinstein, who has close ties to Trump, as an ombudsman to root out “complaints of bias” at CBS News.
Skydance is owned by David Ellison, the son of a close Trump ally, the tech billionaire and second richest man in the world, Larry Ellison.
Ellison’s increasing control of the US media landscape extends to the potential purchase of the American-facing operation of TikTok.
Trump said this week that a deal was close to being announced – he has repeatedly extended a deadline enforcing a ban on TikTok in the US under a law signed by his predecessor, Joe Biden – with reports saying the buyer would be a consortium that would include Ellison’s Oracle.
And last week it emerged that the newly merged Paramount Skydance is looking at a takeover of Warner Bros Discovery, the media company behind CNN.
Trump has repeatedly attacked CNN, which is run by the former BBC director general Mark Thompson, and the Comcast-owned MSNBC over their critical coverage, calling them “illegal” and “corrupt”.
Following the removal of Kimmel’s show Trump said in a post: “That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC” – a threat to the shows of late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers.
“Trump sees CNN as left wing and now it appears that if you do your job you are putting your company at risk, your own salary,” said one media executive. “You would be worried if you were at CNN about what might be promised to get a deal through Trump’s people.”
Trump has also successfully exerted pressure on major print and digital media outlets.
Before last year’s US presidential election, the Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, broke a 30-year tradition of backing a candidate. Staff claimed that the position would have been to support Democratic candidate Harris.
Earlier this week, Trump filed a $15bn lawsuit against the New York Times accusing it of being a “mouthpiece” for the Democratic party and of “spreading false and defamatory content” about him.
And Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal is also subject to a Trump lawsuit following the publication of allegations that the president composed a crude poem and doodle as part of a collection compiled for Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday.
The ownership structure and power of the New York Times, and huge influence of the Murdoch’s Fox News in rightwing politics, means their proprietors are unlikely to be cowed.
However, Trump’s marrying of political allegiance with commercial success is continuing to affect media plurality in the US.
“Free speech no longer means free speech,” said Enders. “Business has become political.”
