Trump’s War on Media Expands With Jimmy Kimmel Suspension
US President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a news conference at Chequers, near Aylesbury, UK, on Sept. 18.
Photographer: Neil Hall/EPA/Bloomberg
US presidents have long had adversarial relationships with the media — but no American head of state has taken that battle to the extremes that Donald Trump has. By using, or threatening to use, the courts and his administration’s authority, Trump has forced a series of major concessions from the world’s largest outlets.
Walt Disney Co. stunned the industry Wednesday when ABC put Jimmy Kimmel’s show on indefinite hiatus, after a Sept. 15 monologue in which the popular comedian riffed on how Trump and his supporters reacted to the assassination of Republican activist Charlie Kirk. The segment had drawn a public rebuke earlier from Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.