President Donald Trump said he would consider revoking broadcast network licenses if they air material “against” him.
Trump’s remarks come in the wake of ABC indefinitely pulling “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” after comments host Jimmy Kimmel made on the show about the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
“I read someplace that the networks were 97% against me. I get 97% negative, and yet I won it easily,” Trump said, referring to the 2024 election. “I won all seven swing states, popular vote, I won everything. And they’re 97% against, they give me wholly bad publicity … I mean, they’re getting a license, I would think maybe their license should be taken away.”
Speaking from Air Force One following a trip to the U.K., Trump said he would leave the decision in the hands of the Federal Communications Commission’s chair, Brendan Carr, who Trump called “outstanding.”
“If you go back, I guess they haven’t had a conservative on in years or something, somebody said, but when you go back and you take a look, all they do is hit Trump,” he told reporters. “They’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that. They’re an arm of the Democrat Party.”
Kimmel’s comments in the wake of Kirk’s death sparked outrage on the right.
“The MAGA gang (is) 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 on his show. “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”
Carr had warned earlier on Wednesday that ABC could “find ways to take action on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Trump told reporters Kimmel was a “whack job” with “no talent.” Celebrating ABC’s decision on Truth Social, Trump also name-checked Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers as potential targets.
“Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!” Trump wrote.