Conservatives Decry Trump Pressure To Fire Kimmel Over Joke About Melania

Conservatives are speaking out against the idea of the federal government punishing ABC’s late-night host, Jimmy Kimmel, over his joke about First Lady Melania Trump. President Trump has repeatedly called for ABC to fire Mr. Kimmel for saying that the first lady had a “glow” like an “expectant widow.” The joke came just two days before a gunman stormed through a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents’ dinner. Law enforcement says he was trying to assassinate the president and other top officials. Mr. Kimmel has been harshly criticized for his comment in light of the attempted assassination. However, he has insisted he was not making a joke about Mr. Trump being killed, but rather about his age.On Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission ordered eight of the Walt Disney Company’s local stations to submit applications to renew their licenses earlier than expected. The move was seen as punishment — Disney owns ABC — for the Kimmel situation. However, the chairman of the FCC, Brendan Carr, said that the order was months in the making and came after Disney provided insufficient documents last week in response to the FCC’s investigation of its DEI practices. Liberal critics of Mr. Trump and Mr. Carr have accused the FCC of retaliating against ABC. A Democrat-appointed FCC commissioner called the move a “stunt.” Some conservatives have also spoken out about allegations that the federal government is punishing ABC or trying to control speech. Senator Ted Cruz told Punchbowl News, “It is not government’s job to censor speech, and I do not believe the FCC should operate as the speech police.”The chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, told NewsNation, “I would hope that if my friend Brendan Carr is looking at something on ABC, it has more to do than with a few tasteless jokes.”Conservative commentator Glenn Beck said during an episode of his show, “The government should stay completely out of this controversy.”The chief executive of FIRE, Greg Lukianoff, wrote on X, “Are we really doing this again? Of course we are. Under the first amendment, the White House may not pressure ABC to fire a comedian because of his jokes. Melania is entitled to her opinion, of course, but unfortunately, this administration has shown itself more than willing to pursue their enemies for their speech.”A conservative commentator, Guy Benson, wrote, “Yeah, the ‘joke’ was especially gross and tasteless given the two previous assassination attempts, then it aged like milk after the 3rd. Kimmel also lied about the Kirk assassination on his ‘comedy’ show, as a reminder of his partisan sleaziness.”“Still, I don’t think POTUS should be calling for his firing (though I understand why he and FLOTUS are deeply unamused). I believe this on principle — and practically speaking, it helps buttress this phony martyr BS guys like Kimmel relish,” he said.A conservative opinion writer at the Washington Post, Dominic Pino, re-posted one of his old tweets that read, “The FCC’s primary purposes today are: 1. Violate the First Amendment. 2. Make up problems and propose big government solutions to them. It doesn’t need to exist.”A conservative legal activist, Casey Mattox, wrote, “Among all the problems with this, including huge First Amendment ones, I’ll offer just one more. WHY ARE YOU MAKING JIMMY KIMMEL INTO A SYMPATHETIC CHARACTER?!”Despite the criticism from conservatives, Mr. Trump has doubled down on his call for Mr. Kimmel to be fired. During an interview on Newsmax on Thursday, he warned that ABC is “putting themselves in great jeopardy” by keeping Mr. Kimmel on the air.

Conservatives Decry Trump Pressure To Fire Kimmel Over Joke About Melania

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