The hosts of “The View” stayed silent for the second day in a row over their parent company ABC’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel‘s late-night show over his controversial Charlie Kirk comments.
On Thursday’s episode of “The View,” the hosts surprisingly did not touch on Kimmel’s show being taken off the air indefinitely the night before. Instead, they rehashed their Wednesday segment about FBI Director Kash Patel’s testimony over the Jeffrey Epstein files. Many fans theorized that “The View” hosts were purposely instructed to not discuss Kimmel’s suspension by their parent company. During Friday’s show, Kimmel’s hiatus, the biggest topic of discussion in Hollywood at the moment, did not come up once again.
On Thursday afternoon, FCC chairman Brendan Carr, who was responsible for yanking “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, suggested the FCC look into “The View” as well.
“When you look at these other TV shows, what’s interesting is the FCC does have a rule called the equal opportunity rule. But there’s an exception to that rule called the bona fide news exception, which means if you are a bona fide news program, you don’t have to abide by the equal opportunity rule.” Carr said on a radio show. “Over the years, the FCC has developed a body of case law on that and has suggested that most of these late night shows, other than ‘SNL,’ are bona fide news programs. Potentially I would assume you can make the argument that ‘The View’ is a bona fide news show, but I’m not so sure about that, and I think it’s worthwhile to have the FCC look into whether ‘The View’ and some of the programs that you have still qualify as bona fide news programs and therefore exempt from the equal opportunity regime that Congress has put in place.”
If the FCC determines “The View” is not a bona fide news program, then it would be subjected to the equal opportunity rule. That would mean that all political candidates and their opponents would need equal time on air on the network.
Many celebrities, reporters and politicians criticized ABC for pulling “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on Wednesday night. The suspension is indefinite and due to Kimmel’s comments that “the MAGA gang” was attempting to portray Kirk‘s assassin as “anything other than one of them.” Carr threatened sanctions against ABC, saying “These 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.” Shortly after, Nexstar, which operates 32 ABC affiliates, refused to air “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” and ABC pulled the show off air indefinitely.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said that Republicans do not “believe in free speech” and are “censoring” people in real time.
“Buying and controlling media platforms. Firing commentators. Canceling shows. These aren’t coincidences. It’s coordinated. And it’s dangerous. The GOP does not believe in free speech. They are censoring you in real time,” Newsom wrote.
Former president Barack Obama also wrote on X that the Trump administration is “threatening” media companies to silence their dissenting voices.
“After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like,” Obama wrote, adding that ABC’s suspension of Kimmel is “Trump’s most brazen attack on free speech yet.”