Free speech advocate blames Kimmel suspension on FCC 'extortion racket’

Here & Now Anytime

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4.1 • 953 Ratings

🗓️ 18 September 2025

⏱️ 24 minutes

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Summary

ABC announced Wednesday that "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" would be taken off the air indefinitely amid pressure from the FCC over comments Kimmel made earlier this week about the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The Hollywood Reporter’s Alex Weprin joins us.

And, Bob Corn-Revere, chief counsel at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, explains his concerns after Kimmel’s suspension and what it means for First Amendment rights.

Then, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) talks about politically motivated violence and threats to free speech, including death threats against him and his family.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for here and now anytime comes from MathWorks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink software for technical computing and model-based design.
0:09.2	MathWorks, accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science. Learn more at MathWorks.com.
0:17.5	WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:22.5	Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person.
0:25.3	He had very bad ratings, and they should have fired him a long time ago.
0:28.2	So, you know, you can call that free speech or not.
0:31.0	He was fired for lack of talent.
0:34.3	President Trump is celebrating the silencing of another one of his critics,
0:38.8	calling the suspension of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel,
0:41.8	a great day for America.
0:53.1	It's Thursday, September 18th, and this is here and now anytime from NPR and WBUR.
0:58.8	I'm Chris Bentley.
1:01.9	Today on the show, we're getting reaction to Disney's decision to take Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show off the air indefinitely.
1:09.7	Here's what happened.
1:10.9	Some media companies that carry his show objected to Kimmel's remarks Monday night
1:15.8	about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
1:19.2	We'll play those comments in a moment.
1:21.3	The commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, went on a podcast
1:25.5	and threatened Disney, owner of Kimmel's Network ABC.
1:29.4	I mean, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.
1:32.2	These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel,
1:39.1	or there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.
	...

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