"But what has happened with Jimmy Kimmel over the past 24 hours has been something far different (and scarier) than a mere public-relations kerfuffle: FCC chairman Brendan Carr, a MAGA loyalist, threatened to damage a key part of Disney's broadcast-TV business if its ABC network didn't "take action" against Kimmel to address his concerns over a few sentences from his September 15 episode that the right-wing outrage machine had deemed problematic."
"On Tuesday, Fox News posted video from the monologue; by Wednesday morning, podcaster Benny Johnson, a key ally of the Trump White House, released a podcast with this YouTube subject line: "Jimmy Kimmel LIES About Charlie Kirk Killer, Blames Charlie For His Murder!? Disney Must Fire Kimmel." The guest of honor on the pod: Carr, who said ABC could "do this the easy way or the hard way.""
Jimmy Kimmel delivered a monologue on September 15 that included an awkward sentence which provoked right-wing outrage. Fox News posted video the following day and podcaster Benny Johnson amplified the segment, featuring FCC chairman Brendan Carr urging ABC to "take action." Nexstar and Sinclair pulled Kimmel's show, and ABC announced that the program would be preempted indefinitely. The sequence of events placed significant pressure on Disney and CEO Bob Iger and raised concerns about regulatory intimidation and broadcast censorship. As of Thursday afternoon, Kimmel remained employed by Disney and his show had not been formally canceled.
Read at Vulture
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