The Real Reason Jimmy Kimmel Was Pulled From Late-Night

Lever Time

The Lever

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.8 • 560 Ratings

🗓️ 18 September 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

First, they cancelled Stephen Colbert; now they’ve pulled Jimmy Kimmel off the air. The common denominator? Corporate power. On today’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota talks with media-consolidation expert Craig Aaron and monopoly authority Matt Stoller about how media corporations are transforming the news and information environment to curry favor with the Trump administration. Where is this all heading? Are our most basic freedoms going to survive? Click here for a full transcript of the episode. The kind of accountability journalism that The Lever does every single day is under assault in a way it has never been in our lifetimes. Help us fight back. Click here for a 30% discount on a Lever subscription right now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to the free ad-supported version of our podcast. For an ad-free experience,
0:05.5	visit levernews.com slash upgrade. When Donald Trump was inaugurated like all presidents, he swore
0:12.1	an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. Instead, Donald Trump has decided
0:16.9	to swerve, deflect, and append the Constitution and treat it like a terms and conditions
0:21.8	page. I'm Professor Corey Brett Schneider. And I'm deeply unqualified comedian John Fugleson.
0:27.3	We'd like to invite you to listen to the Oath in the Office podcast where every week we interpret
0:32.1	the Constitution and hold Trump accountable to his oath. It's a podcast that offers real insight on how to take action against tyranny and mayhem,
0:41.2	because despair is not a strategy.
0:43.8	We'll hold him to his pledge, despite his threats to democracy and the law itself.
0:49.3	It's a podcast that's all about hope for what a real democracy should look like from an esteemed, respected
0:54.9	constitutional scholar and a deeply neurotic comedian who thought the emoluments clause was a breakfast item.
1:01.1	Subscribe to The Oath in the Office where every week we talk about how citizens can preserve our democracy
1:06.7	and fight back against the threat to democracy.
1:10.1	Subscribe to The Oath in the Office on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast.
1:17.8	The Lever.
1:21.2	From The Lever's reader-supported newsroom, this is Lever Time.
1:24.9	I'm David Sorota.
1:26.4	First, it was Stephen Colbert. Now it's Jimmy Kimmel.
1:29.9	In a stunning move, Disney announced that ABC's longtime late-night host is being pulled off the air indefinitely after his comments about Donald Trump and slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
1:43.3	There's a through line here beyond just two Trump critical comedians getting the axe.
1:48.8	It's a through line about corporate power.
1:51.7	Remember how Colbert's firing happened just as his bosses were seeking merger approval
	...

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