DemDaily: Kimmel, Colbert and The Constitution
September 25, 2025
Late-night comedy host Jimmy Kimmel returned to television Tuesday night after the latest, but surely not the last, episode in President Donald Trump's war on free speech.
| "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." - First Amendment to the US Constitution |
Trump v. Free Speech
While the seeds of Trump's contempt for the First Amendment protections of Americans' freedom of speech were on display in his first administration, "few anticipated the extent to which Trump 2.0 would or could use the powers of the presidency and the bully pulpit to restrict, suppress, and coerce expression," said First Amendment scholar Tim Zick.
The sheer volume of the Trump administration's blatant attacks on the First Amendment rights of our country's own institutions and citizens, and the unabashed corruption of the man entrusted with protecting the sacred tenets of our Constitution, is unprecedented in US history.
In his first 100 days in office, Trump signed over 20 executive orders or actions threatening the First Amendment rights of law firms, universities, scientists, federal employees, unions, LGBTQ individuals and people of color, students, news organizations and political adversaries. More than three dozen lawsuits challenging the orders are making their way through the courts.
The Fight for Late Night
Canceling Colbert
Trump's seething animus toward late-night talk show hosts, of whom he is a regular target, has long played out on air and online. As satirists, they are prominent representatives of free speech before a public audience and are constitutionally shielded from direct censorship for voicing or airing content critical of the government. Until now.
For nine consecutive years, the highest-rated late-night talk show has been The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which premiered in 2015 and just received the 2025 Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Talk Series.
In a shock to the industry and fans worldwide, CBS announced its cancellation on July 17, stating that the show and franchise -- which was previously hosted by David Letterman for 22 years -- would end with the close of its contract in May 2026.
The "purely financial decision" was made while CBS parent Paramount was closing an $8.4 billion merger with media conglomerate Skydance -- which depended on approval from Trump's Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and his hand-appointed Chair, Brendan Carr. That approval came just days after CBS and Paramount agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle his widely derided lawsuit over a "60 Minutes" segment.
Colbert, whom Trump considers a nemesis, criticized the transaction on air July 14 as "a big fat bribe," and on July 16 was informed of his show's cancellation -- the night before it was made public by CBS.
The backlash was swift and relentless from the public, industry, unions, celebrities, commentators and political figures across the spectrum. Viewers were called on to cancel their Paramount+ subscriptions, and a 250,000+-signature petition to save The Late Show was delivered to Paramount HQ. Colbert's YouTube views soared.
House and Senate investigations were launched into the merger, potential bribery and corruption, the FCC's approval, and the role of CBS and Skydance executives in Colbert's cancellation. To the FCC, Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) wrote: "If Paramount and CBS ended The Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know."
| On the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Trump posted, "I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!" |
Kimmel Kicks Ass
On September 17, in an even more transparent violation of the First Amendment, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and its corporate parent, the Walt Disney Company, announced the "indefinite" suspension of late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live!
The suspension was the direct, irrefutable result of political pressure stemming from the White House to silence Kimmel after his monologue remarks surrounding the September 10 assassination of 31-year-old right-wing political activist and prominent MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk incensed conservative supporters.
On hearing of the tragedy, Kimmel posted his condolences on X, adding, “Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human?”
Trump's immediate response to the shooting was, “We have a great country. We have radical left lunatics out there and we just have to beat the hell out of them.” After learning the shooter had a transgender partner, Donald Trump Jr. said, “Seems like per capita the radical transgender movement has to be the most violent movement anywhere in the world.”
On September 15, Vice President JD Vance, hosting Charlie Kirk’s podcast, blamed the "incredibly destructive movement of left-wing extremism...[as] part of the reason why Charlie was killed by an assassin’s bullet.”
That night, in his monologue, Kimmel chastised the reaction of Trump and his supporters to Kirk's death: “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.”
Kimmel criticized Trump's indifference to a question about his emotions in the wake of Kirk’s murder, in which the president just answered "very good" before pivoting to the ballroom he is building in the White House. “Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief: construction,” Kimmel said. “Demolition, construction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend; this is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish.”
September 17: Trump's FCC Chairman, Carr, told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson that Kimmel’s comments were “truly sick” and ABC should take steps against Kimmel: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct to take actions, frankly on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead” -- including, but not limited to, potential revocation of their broadcast licenses.
Within hours, Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group, which, together, own nearly one-fourth of ABC affiliates, said they would be preempting Kimmel's show. Nexstar is seeking FCC approval for a merger with Tegna, while Nexstar and Sinclair are asking the FCC to repeal a rule regarding limits on broadcasting companies.
As with Colbert, the public response was explosive, from viewers to constitutional scholars. including massive boycotts against Disney/ABC, Nexstar and Sinclair. Remarks by Trump celebrating the suspension and suggesting further retribution against critical speech against him and his presidency drew concerns about his encroaching authoritarianism.
On September 23, after "thoughtful conversations" with Kimmel, ABC announced that the show would be reinstated.
| Kimmel's appearance drew 6.26 million broadcast followers, even with 23% of the country blacked out, as well as 26 million views across YouTube and social platforms. The popular host mounted an impassioned and defiant defense of free speech, saying, "This show is not important. What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have shows like this." |
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Sources: EmmyAwards, FreeSpeechCenter, FirstAmendmentWatch, eonline, The Guardian, ACLU, CNN, Vogue, BBC
