Politics
WATCH: Longtime Trump Critic Defends ABC’s Kimmel Move: ‘Business Decision’
NewsNation host Chris Cuomo speculated that ABC’s decision to “indefinitely” suspend Jimmy Kimmel Live after furious backlash against the network, and the show’s advertisers, as a simple business decision. The former CNN host and longtime Trump critic added that there is no evidence to suggest the FCC pressured the network to axe Kimmel’s show.
The network announced Wednesday, September 17, that Kimmel’s show would be suspended after a number of broadcasting giants, including Nextstar and Sinclair, announced that they would no longer be airing the program in response to Kimmel’s comments on the assassination of Charlie Kirk, in which he falsely claimed the shooter was a “MAGA” supporter.
Kimmel’s comments sparked intense backlash both against the network and parent company Disney, as well as the show’s advertisers. Liberals have claimed that Kimmel’s firing was the result of political pressure from the Trump Administration, particularly in regards to comments from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who noted that the agency’s guidelines prohibit figures from lying about crimes or tragedies on national broadcasts.
“This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead,” Carr told conservative political commentator Benny Johnson a day before Kimmel’s show was indefinitely suspended.
Cuomo — a vehement Trump critic — said during his Thursday broadcast of CUOMO, that he is not buying the narrative that Kimmel’s demise was due to political pressure from the Trump Administration.
“You can like or not like Disney’s decision on Kimmel, but until I see proof of actual government coercion of their decision, this is about Disney making a business decision about its brand and the responsibility,” he said. “It has to respect the desires of its audience and its license, okay? Yes, Trump said Kimmel would be next. Now, is that correlation or is it causation? The answer to that comes in proof. I don’t care how you feel about it, alright? That doesn’t do anything for me. We don’t have the proof before us. Maybe we will. Then I’ll change my analysis.”
Cuomo went on to acknowgdlge the fierce backlash against Kimmel’s comments, which came during Monday’s edition of Monday’s show. “We had 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 stated without any evidence to support the alleged gunman’s “MAGA” views.
Ultimately, Cuomo insinuated that Disney and ABC saw Kimmel as a liability. “What we do know is that the outrage at ABC Disney for what he said was more impressive to them than his ratings, apparently,” he said. “Now, you can argue if they made the right choice, but they had the right to make that choice. And we all know in this business that this is what you sign up for. And no, it is not a First Amendment issue until you have proof of government intervention, because the First Amendment doesn’t apply to private industry in this context. It’s a restriction on government regulation.”
Cuomo may indeed be correct about the business analysis behind axing Kimmel’s show when considering reports about the massive loss fellow late night host Stephen Colbert’s show was operating under on CBS. Declining viewership and profitability among the late night genre has been undeniable over the past several years.
Colbert’s average of 2.4 million viewers represented a nearly 50 percent decline when compared with former host David Letterman’s figures for the 2004-2005 season, when he averaged 4.1 million total viewers per episode, according to Nielsen data. For comparison, Letterman’s debut episode in 1993 drew 23 million viewers.
According to a report from Puck News, Colbert’s show has been operating at a $40 million loss for the past year.
