David Letterman on the Threats to Late-Night Hosts

Radio Atlantic

The Atlantic

Politics, News, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 19 September 2025

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Yesterday, Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show was suspended indefinitely. It’s a shocking moment for free speech, given the order in which events unfolded. Earlier that day, FCC Chair Brendan Carr had suggested on a conservative podcast that ABC and its affiliates consider taking steps against Kimmel, saying, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” As it so happened, the late-night legend David Letterman was scheduled to speak at The Atlantic Festival the next day. Letterman and The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, sat down for an impromptu interview about the news. --- Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Okay, so what if you could listen to all your books, docs, PDFs, and articles? Well, you can.
0:05.8	With the 11 Reader app, you can turn anything into natural sounding voice, like this one.
0:11.1	So download 11 Reader for free on your favorite app store today.
0:27.0	The FCC has historically acted as a kind of enforcer of community standards.
0:32.3	They've doled out fines for saying the F word, for example, or wardrobe malfunctions.
0:41.6	Factual mistakes, errors in judgment, bad jokes, that has not traditionally been part of their job.
0:43.4	Until this week.
0:54.8	As you may have already heard, comedian Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show was suspended by ABC for comments he made on the show about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
1:01.8	Here's the timing of events, which is important. Kimmel says something inaccurate about the guy who killed Charlie Kirk. Shortly after, the chairman of the FCC, Brendan Carr, gets on a right-wing
1:08.6	podcast and suggests that ABC and its affiliates take steps against Kimmel,
1:14.6	saying, quote, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.
1:20.1	The network, which relies on stations carrying their programming, wasted little time.
1:26.3	That same day, they pulled Kimmel's show off the air indefinitely.
1:31.3	Here's what Trump said when a reporter asked him about it on Air Force One.
1:36.3	Well, I read someplace that the networks were 97% against me.
1:40.3	I got 97% negative, And yet I won it easily.
1:45.0	I won all seven states.
1:46.0	Popular was won everything.
1:48.0	And then 97% against, they give me only bad with listening or press.
1:56.0	I mean, they're getting a license.
1:59.0	I would think maybe their license should be taken away.
2:02.6	I'd be up to Brendan Carr.
	...

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