Will Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers be on-air tomorrow night? Who knows.
President Trump selected Brendan Carr, a veteran Republican of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), according to NPR, for much of Carr’s career, he was seen as a “relatively conventional Republican with a pro-corporate outlook” and has now “embraced Trumpian themes about social media, tech and television companies.”
“Commissioner Carr is a warrior for free speech, and has fought against the regulatory lawfare that has stifled Americans’ freedoms, and held back our economy,” Trump said in a statement, “He [Carr] will end the regulatory onslaught that has been crippling America’s job creators and innovators, and ensure that the FCC delivers for rural America.”
Trump does not deliver on one of his promises, yet again. With Carr now as FCC chairman, Stephen Colbert’s show is set to be canceled in May 2026, Kimmel was cut off-air and brought back, and now Trump supports NBC potentially firing both Fallon and Meyers. Trump recently congratulated ABC for “finally having the courage to do what needed to be done” by cancelling the Kimmel show, according to Yahoo Entertainment.
“Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible,” said Trump on X. “That leaves Jimmy [Fallon] and Seth [Meyers], two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it, NBC!!! President DJT.”
Kimmel was cut off-air by ABC, which is owned by Disney, on Sept. 15, due to comments made regarding Charlie Kirk’s death, according to People. Kirk, the right-wing commentator who founded Turning Point USA, was shot dead at the age of 31 on Sept. 10, 2025, at a speaking event at Utah Valley University.
“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 said in his monologue. “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”
Kimmel labeled the shooter, Tyler Robinson, as one of the “MAGA gang” because he grew up in a very conservative, Trump-loving home. According to CNN, it discusses that “during high school, Robinson, like his family, was politically conservative, and supported President Donald Trump ahead of the 2020 election…”
“On Friday, the White House flew the flags at half staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level, you can see how hard the president is taking this,” Kimmel said during his next comments on Sept. 15.
Kimmel continued, playing a clip of President Donald Trump partially addressing reporters’ questions about how he was coping with former ally Kirk’s death before moving to commenting on the construction of the White House ballroom. Kimmel then said Trump was at the fourth stage of grief, “construction.”
“This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend,” Kimmel said. “This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.”
The question then becomes: Should Kimmel have been fired for speaking the truth? It seems many folks did not realize the joke was geared towards Trump and his grieving process, not over the death of a young man. Also, why is Kimmel’s minuscule comic remark held in such high regard when Kirk said far worse about immigrants in the United States, like black pilots being a worry for him that they were a DEI hire, or his hateful remarks toward the gay community and sole intention of sowing division and hatred, especially among college-aged students in the United States? Perhaps, because Trump is in office.
Kimmel’s Return
In Kimmel’s 17-minute opening monologue on his return on Sept. 23, he received a warm welcome from his fans, with a standing ovation from the live audience. Kimmel first acknowledged all of his late-night show hosts who reached out to him, thanked his fans and even expressed gratitude to those who oppose his political views and spoke out for his freedom of speech, especially Senator Ted Cruz.
Kimmel said our American government cannot control what we do and do not say on television. He said if you like him, you like him, and vice versa, but that it was never in his intentions to make light of the murder of a young man, Kirk.
“This show is not important,” Kimmel said in his monologue. “What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.”
Kimmel added he has met other comedians in Russia and places in the Middle East who would do anything to have a show like his and that they would end up in prison or worse for some of the things he can say in America. Kimmel said the CBS affiliates’ decision to take Colbert off-air in May 2026, is “un-American” and “dangerous,” Kimmel said.
The monologue includes a clip of Trump from 2022 saying, “If we don’t have free speech, we just don’t have a free country. It’s as simple as that… If this most fundamental right is allowed to perish, the rest will topple as dominoes.” In response, Kimmel shows a clip of Trump changing his stance drastically, saying Kimmel has “no talent” and “no ratings.” In a pure moment of genius, Kimmel responds with, “I do tonight.”
“You almost have to feel sorry,” Kimmel said in his monologue. “He [Trump] tried to cancel me. Instead, he forced millions of people to watch the show. That backfired bigly. He might have to release the Epstein files to distract us from this now.”
In response, Kimmel comically pulls out a folded piece of paper with the contents of Disney’s official statement on the matter, reading, “To reactivate your Disney+ and Hulu, open the Disney app on your smart TV.” It seems ironic that Kimmel comes back on-air like a rabbit coming out of the hat after Disney loses a chunk of change.
“Some reports suggest Disney’s stock has taken a hit in response to the backlash. Over $4 billion in market value is said to have been lost in some short‐term trading, in part due to concerns about subscriber churn tied to this controversy,” according to Yahoo. “Google searches for ‘cancel Disney Plus’ and ‘cancel Hulu’ have also spiked in the last week, and this kind of search‐volume increase is often used as an early warning of rising cancellation interest.”
Perhaps the most powerful moment from Kimmel’s comeback on Sept. 23, was his comedy skit with Robert De Niro, who acted as FCC Chairman Carr. Kimmel proposes that the FCC is using mob tactics to suppress free speech.
“Speech, it ain’t free no more,” De Niro said, acting as Carr. “We’re charging by the word now. It depends on what you say. If you want to say something about the president and his beautiful, thick, yellow hair or how he can do his makeup better than any broad, that’s free. But, if you wanna make a joke like he’s so fat he needs two seats on the Epstein jet, that’s gonna cost you.”
This is both a matter of free speech and business. Sure, Disney needed to gain back some of their subscribers to minimize their losses, but Trump doesn’t like it when others make a fool of him when that’s all he does for a living.
