#nexstar

Right Wing media is poison for America.

Ok, I keep getting asked about how to complain about Kimmel.

The best way to complain that will have the biggest impact?

See if you have a Sinclair or nexstar station in your area.

2. Watch the local newscast tonight or some time this week.

3. Note the companies that bought tv adverts.

4. Call them and let them know you will boycott them until they quit supporting that media company.

Trust me. I worked in tv for 45 years. Nothing you do will have greater impact. Nothing. This is a much more effective tool than cancelling Disney.

The so-called demands are as follows:

The first is for there to be "formal discussions" held with ABC "regarding the network's commitment to professionalism and accountability."

It also asked for Kimmel to "issue a direct apology to the Kirk family" and for him to make a "meaningful personal donation to the Kirk Family and Turning Point USA," Kirk's nonprofit that advocates for conservative politics on high school, college and university campuses.

The first two demands are bullshit anyways, but c'mon that last one? "Donate your own money to a conservative political organization regardless of your beliefs or else we'll keep you off the air" is fucking bonkers.

Just to reiterate, this is what Jimmy Kimmel said, a completely fine thing to say:

"We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it," he said. "In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving."

He's quite literally just calling out how MAGA and the Trump Administration are pointing fingers and accusing the "Left" of being at fault.

Then he pointed out how y'know who's actually insensitive? Trump! Trump who after being asked how he was holding up after Charlie Kirk's death immediately pivoted to talking about how he's showing off new crap in the White House.

"I think very good, and by the way, right there where you see all the trucks, they just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House," Trump replied, adding the new ballroom at the White House will "be a beauty."

"Yes," Kimmel said as the camera cut back to him, "he's at the fourth stage of grief: construction."

But Kimmel is considered "offensive and insensitive"??

Andrew Alford, President of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, elaborated on the decision in a statement to PEOPLE, saying, "Mr. Kimmel's comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located.”

This is a fucking joke I swear.

Greg Sargent at TNR:

The startling decision by ABC to pull comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s show under pressure from President Trump requires a real response from Democrats. It has to go well beyond expressions of outrage and defenses of the First Amendment—though those are critical—and spell out potential future consequences, political and possibly even legal, for those participating in this escalating lawlessness. The bare facts about this situation already demonstrate that this is a breathtaking abuse of power. Critically, it turns on the willingness of accomplices to bend or break the law to assist in Trump’s authoritarian consolidation of power, in this case Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr. Which might provide an opening for Democrats. Carr is not doing much to hide the corrupt nature of what just happened. The MAGA right has been furious with Kimmel for allegedly mischaracterizing Charlie Kirk’s killer as one of them. Though the shooter’s motives remain murky, that may indeed prove false. But it’s still speech. And on Wednesday, Carr went on a far-right podcast to directly threaten ABC with retaliation for Kimmel’s offense. Carr flatly declared that if “these companies”—meaning ABC and its parent, Disney—don’t “take action on Kimmel” for spreading misinformation about Kirk’s killing, there will be “additional work for the FCC ahead.” Carr added that this could mean pulling the licenses of ABC broadcast affiliates. That’s appalling by itself. But Carr went even further, in some revealing comments to Fox News’s Sean Hannity on Wednesday night. In that appearance, Carr claimed that mainstream media outlets conspired to stop Trump’s 2024 election with their coverage of things like Joe Biden’s age and Russia’s efforts to help Trump win in 2016.

Carr was lying, of course. But then he added this: Trump punched back. And when he did so, he was standing up for the American people that simply don’t trust those outlets anymore. We at the FCC are going to enforce the public interest obligation. There’s broadcasters out there that don’t like it—they can turn their license in to the FCC. Carr continued that these media outlets had run a “narrow partisan circus” during 2024, and added: “Whatever the public interest means, it’s not that.” This is simply extraordinary. The invocation of the “public interest” is a reference to the fact that by law, the FCC licenses network affiliates to operate on behalf of the public interest. And so Carr here is going further than in his original rationale, i.e., that the FCC could pull licenses in the “public interest” due to Kimmel’s supposed spreading of misinformation about Kirk.

[...] Carr’s threats may be unlawful in addition to violating the First Amendment, says Anna Gomez, who is the only Democratic-appointed commissioner on the three-member FCC. Gomez notes that federal law also bars the FCC from censoring broadcasters. “What the administration is doing violates the First Amendment and the Communications Act,” Gomez tells me, noting that the government is “using the public interest standard to go after anything it doesn’t like.” “This administration is increasingly using the weight of government to suppress lawful expression,” Gomez said, decrying Trump’s “campaign of censorship and control” to “silence dissent.”

There may be another dimension to Carr’s abuse of power, as well. Recall that media conglomerate Nexstar, which runs many ABC affiliates, first announced that it will yank Kimmel, boosting the pressure on ABC. But Nexstar’s move came after Carr suggested that “individual licensed stations” must “step up” and take action against Kimmel. Nexstar is seeking FCC approval for a merger with megabroadcaster Tegna. So the question is: Did Nexstar understand Carr to be saying that the merger could depend on it agreeing to pull Kimmel from its stations? “I believe there was strong pressure against [Nexstar’s] broadcasters to preempt Kimmel,” FCC Commissioner Gomez tells me. Is it legal for the FCC chair to threaten to pull the licenses of broadcasters unless they refrain from Trump coverage that he arbitrarily declares illegitimate? Is it legal for the FCC chair to apparently hint that Nexstar won’t get its merger approved unless it yanks someone whose speech Trump dislikes?

Greg Sargent wrote a solid piece in TNR that the Trump Regime-ordered ouster of ABC host Jimmy Kimmel is just the latest step of the MAGA takeover of broadcasting.

See Also:

The Guardian:

John Oliver has voiced his concern for the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show and his support of his fellow late-night TV host. On his HBO show Last Week Tonight, the comedian started by speaking about the shooting of Charlie Kirk. “A person getting shot is tragic and a person getting shot for their ideas is horrifying, that is true no matter what their ideas are,” he said.

But Oliver quickly added: “I also recognise that for many, especially those who were the target of Kirk’s ideas, it has been hard to stay quiet.” Kimmel’s remarks last week were focused on how the right was trying to use the death of Kirk to “score political points”. Oliver said that after the fallout, “it does seem like some are now willing to weaponise Kirk’s death to do things they’ve been wanting to do for years”.

He spoke of the “shamelessly flimsy pretext” used to suspend him and that “everyone knew the administration had it in for Kimmel”. Despite mischaracterisation elsewhere, Oliver stressed that Kimmel’s comments “weren’t about Kirk” and “many struggled to pick the offensive line out of his monologue”. He added that “Kimmel didn’t denigrate Charlie Kirk or make light of his killing” but just spoke about how the right were desperate to weaponise “an argument that has aged pretty well given everything that’s happened to Kimmel since”. The comments “set off a firestorm” and enraged Brendan Carr, the FCC chair, and Nexstar, one of the largest owners of TV stations which then triggered his suspension by ABC.

On his HBO show Sunday, John Oliver said that Trump has had it in for Jimmy Kimmel dating back to his first term.

From the 09.21.2025 edition of HBO's Last Week Tonight:

Charlie Kirk was a proud Neo-NAZI who wanted people like me dead and considered children killed in Mass Shootings a small sacrifice for the 2nd Amendment.

In related news, Hakeem Jefferies continues to disappoint.

And Dear Leader is now demanding an end to all late night comedy or else.

Five Calls to your critters: https://5calls.org/

Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resist.bot/

And another: https://faxzero.com/fax_senate.php

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