SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel was abruptly pulled off the air tonight by ABC. In a statement, a network spokesman said the longtime ABC star, who's hosted the Oscars several times, would be preempted indefinitely. The sudden move follows conservative backlash to comments Kimmel made earlier in the week about the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The chairman of the FCC had criticized the remarks and threatened federal action against ABC. Kimmel is a high-profile critic of President Trump. ABC's move comes two months after CBS canceled another late-night liberal voice, Stephen Colbert. NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik joins us now. David, tell us what happened.
DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE: Well, Scott, yesterday, in his opening monologue - excuse me, I should say Monday night in his opening monologue, Jimmy Kimmel talked about the - what he described as the conservative effort by supporters of the president to cast the accused killer of Charlie Kirk as being anything but one of their own. And in fact, of course, prosecutors had provided evidence suggesting otherwise. He then went on to sort of mock the president for his seemingly cavalier indifferent response when asked how he was dealing earlier with the death of his friend, this young activist. And, you know, before ABC made its move, Nexstar - owner of so many television stations around the country, 23 ABC stations, it manages nine others - announced that it was going to indefinitely pull it from its airwaves. And then you saw the Disney announcement.
DETROW: And of course a big voice in this was the chairman of the FCC, Brendan Carr. You said Kimmel made these comments Monday night. In a podcast interview that I believe posted today, Carr, very critical about ABC, basically threatens federal action. Does the FCC have the power to take an entertainer off the airwaves?
FOLKENFLIK: Yeah, you're so right, Scott. I mean, like, you should - let's listen to the words that he actually said. He said, when you see stuff like this, we can do this the easy way or the hard way - he said this to this sort of far-right podcast host Benny Johnson. And then he said, companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead. There's not really a role if Kimmel hasn't, to my knowledge, you know, said a word that's banned by the FCC that people can file complaints about.
And at the same time, the FCC has a lot of pressure points. One of the key ones is that Nexstar - you know, the nation's, as I mentioned, largest owner of television stations - is applying to take over Tegna, another large television - local television station owner. And to do that, it has to apply to the FCC. It's already done so, in fact.
DETROW: Yeah.
FOLKENFLIK: Nexstar a major client of ABC, and as a result, it's going to put pressure on ABC and Walt Disney Company, its corporate parent, at a time when it needs the FCC's approval to press ahead.
DETROW: Sure, and media has been under so much pressure by the Trump administration. Lawsuits have been filed. There have been settlements with news organizations. There have been pressure on mergers. How does this fit into all of this?
FOLKENFLIK: I think it's of a piece where you're seeing a very emboldened Trump administration. You know, time was where presidents would appoint or elevate people to be the chief broadcast commissioner, somebody like Brendan Carr, to be the head of the Federal Communications Commission, but that was seen as a semi-autonomous, semi-independent position. He's acting part and parcel as an element of - the key element of this administration when it comes to the media. He's echoing and affirming Trump's lawsuits as a private individual against, you know, ABC and CBS previously, and now you're seeing this question of what they're doing with their late-night hosts.
DETROW: Kimmel is, of course, a big Democratic activist, regularly holding fundraisers with the Joe Bidens and Barack Obamas of the world. He's also a massive longtime star of ABC, I mentioned regular Oscars host. I mean, how possible is it he's done, he doesn't come back on the air after this?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, I don't think that his partisan and political beliefs are incidental. I think they're part of this very much as well. ABC, of course, is facing some of the same financial pressures that CBS cited in getting rid of Stephen Colbert in the late-night segment. But as we know, this also is taking place in a huge political landscape, and that's where we have to see it.
DETROW: That is NPR's David Folkenflik. Thanks so much.
FOLKENFLIK: You bet. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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