Trump celebrates the silencing of Jimmy Kimmel

0:00Summer is here! At Orderly Meds, we know this time is a reminder that life is full of new beginnings. Whether you're celebrating the nice weather, starting a new chapter, planning a vacation, or simply looking ahead to what's next, this season can be the perfect time to invest in yourself and your health. If you've struggled with weight loss and are curious about GLP-1 medications, orderly meds can help you learn about your options. Through a simple virtual process, you can connect with licensed medical professionals who can determine whether treatment may be appropriate for you. Getting started is fast, convenient, and happens online from the comfort of home.

0:35This summer, consider a new approach to feeling your best. Visit orderlymeds.com slash podcast to learn more. That's orderlymeds.com slash podcast. orderlymeds.com slash podcast. Because every new season is an opportunity to take the next step forward. Compounded medications are not FDA approved. Eligibility required and determined by a licensed provider. Individual results may vary. See website for details.

1:03This is a Global Player original podcast. I said, he's one of the dumbest human beings ever. He should have listened to his wife. What a dope.

1:20Isn't that sweet? He's confusing me with one of his sons again. Wow. Do you think he's flirting with me? what is this? When I die, I would like that to be the clip they play at the Emmys in memoriam montage. He even worked my wife in there. Should I be worried that Trump has mentioned my wife more times at his rallies this year than his own? That was Jimmy Kimmel, the late night US comedian who has been cancelled his show taken off the air by ABC as a result of something he said about Charlie Kirk and on the pressure from the Trump administration, he's gone. The president has called this cancellation great news for America.

2:01So was the Kimmel cancellation always part of a MAGA plan? And if you follow the money, where does it take you? Welcome to The News Agents.

2:16The News Agents. It's Emily. It's Lewis. And you may have heard that Jimmy Kimmel, who is a very famous late night comedian in the United States. His show has been suspended indefinitely after the US government, the Trump administration, put pressure on broadcasters to crack down on Kimmel who had accused Donald Trump's political movement of exploiting the killing of Charlie Kirk. This is ABC, which is owned ultimately by Disney, announcing on Wednesday night it was going to remove Kimmel's show from its schedule for the foreseeable future. The offending clip is this one. We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.

3:08In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving. 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. Laws of your friend Charlie Kirk. May I ask, sir, personally, how are you holding up over the last day and a half, sir? I think very good. And by the way, right there, you see all the trucks? They've just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they've been trying to get, as you know, for about 150 years. And it's going to be a beauty. Yes. He's at the fourth stage of grief.

3:44Construction. Demolition. Construction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish. So first correction then. ABC says it's about the comments that Jimmy Kimmel makes about Charlie Kirk. It isn't, clearly, as you can hear. It is about the president, or what he calls the Magalot's response, to that question over Charlie Kirk's death. And what he was trying to explain was that in the press conference, Donald Trump sort of pivots quite quickly from talking about his own feelings to describing the development of the White House ballroom and how fantastic that is going to be.

4:28I think the lesson that is sort of hitting you in the face here is that it turns out the Magalot do actually love cancel culture. And this isn't fundamentally a story about one comedian being cancelled. If you think that, you are missing the point because there isn't a First Amendment to protect comedians' jobs on commercial networks. It is fine to decide that a show isn't working or audiences aren't responding or abusive workplace behaviour takes away your right to the privilege of broadcasting. That isn't what happened here. What happened is that the president's feelings were hurt and somebody interpreted what might be about to happen and went for it.

5:10In other words, they pre-cancelled to stop any kind of offence being felt, which could have financial commercial implications. So suddenly you're in this position where, yes, the biggest fans of cancel culture turn out to be, in fact, MAGA, who not only cancel, but celebrate and cheer the success of doing so. the key point of this is that as you say emily you could say that this is maga and trump and others discovering their the fact that maybe cancel culture isn't so bad after all you could say as we've seen repeatedly over the course of the last week that the radical right maga etc are discovering that actually maybe there should be some limits on free speech that maybe words can hurt people that maybe those who have long argued that we should be more judicious in how we use speech were right but i think even those two things wouldn't quite cut it because you can have an argument to say that maybe some of what kimmel said clearly maybe wasn't right and shouldn't have been said when he's starting to speculate about the motives of the attacker i don't think he probably should have done that i also don't think by the way given we still don't know lots about the attack and what was in his head we know more than we did but we still don't know lots let's not forget who has been speculating literally from almost the moment that kirk was terribly appallingly killed it was the trump administration it was the maga movement instantly deciding that this must be and must be by definition the work of antifa or it must be the work of the far left or whatever it happens to be so if it's true that kimmel shouldn't have speculated or shouldn't have spread misinformation whatever you want to say about the motives of the attacker then basically the whole of the maga movement from the top down would be guilty of that charge and they shouldn't have done the same thing.

6:58Yeah, exactly. And I think we should take you to, if you like, behind the curtain and explain a little bit of the background, the commercial implications of this, because it is no coincidence that ABC, the parent company, the broadcaster that shows Jimmy Kimmel, that they pulled it just after one of the biggest owners of TV stations in the US, this is Nextar Media, said it strongly objected to its comments and And would preempt any episodes of the show. Now what you have to understand is that Nextar goes out to about 39 % of US households. And that decision by the network, owned as you say by Walt Disney, came just hours after this clip of Brendan Carr.

7:46Now Brendan Carr is the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. and he went on Benny Johnson, a sort of MAGA, right, influencer podcast. And he basically put out this threat. There's actions that we can take on licensed broadcasters. And frankly, I think that it's really sort of past time that a lot of these licensed broadcasters themselves push back on Comcast and Disney and say, listen, we are going to preempt. We are not going to run Kimmel anymore until you straighten this out, because we, we licensed broadcaster, are running the possibility of fines or license revocation from the FCC if we continue to run content that ends up being a pattern of news distortion.

8:27So I think, again, Disney needs to see some change here, but the individual licensed stations that are taking their content, it's time for them to step up and say this garbage, to the extent that that's what comes down the pipe in the future, isn't something that we think serves the needs of our local communities. But this sort of status quo is obviously not acceptable where we are. OK, so a threat to revoke licenses. The big picture is that Nextstar, the company I just told you about, which has 39 percent of U.S. households' TVs, Nextstar is seeking approval from that body, from that regulatory body, the FCC, to acquire Tegna.

9:03Now, Tegna is a media company worth$6.2 billion, and that would transform this big company, Nextstar Tegna, into an absolutely huge mega company that would then reach 80 % of US households. At the moment, the regulations would not allow that. No one company is allowed to cross the 40 % threshold. So to get this merger over the line would need the FCC, in other words, Brendan Carr, to change the rules. Brendan Carr has signalled he's ready to end what he's calling arcane artificial limits, Which is why when you hear Brendan Carr intervene and start telling Nextstar, telling ABC what they need to do to get this deal approved, they listen and they act and Jimmy Kimmel is cancelled.

9:53And this is exactly what I mean. I don't think this is just a simple question of limits on free speech or cancel culture. I think it's something much part of a pattern which is more chilling, which is, in effect, the federal government putting pressure on media organisations to censor things that they don't like. It is as simple as that. And it is part of, if it was just this one-off, you might say, well, look, in the wake of the Kirk assassination, tensions are running extremely high. This cuts to the quick of the MAGA movement, etc., etc. But it's part of a much wider pattern. Over the last few months, since Trump returned to office, the Trump administration has been acting in a way that, in fairness to them in general, they did not act in the first Trump administration.

10:38They have turned the screws on dissent across many aspects of American life. In the media, it pulled federal funding from NPR and PBS. These are public service broadcasting companies dedicated to freedom of expression, to impartial reporting. They gutted something called Voice of America, which was part of that. They basically pressured another late night host, Stephen Colbert, this case CBS, to pull his show, abruptly cancelling his show again after criticism of the Trump administration, widely seen as a political move. In academia, the federal government has been cutting funding to different universities over what they say are campus protests.

11:18But many people clearly see simply are have been for exhibiting sorts of politics and criticism that Trump administration doesn't like. And then if you look across civil society as well, nonprofits, different groups being targeted, law firms cut out of federal contracts for expressing dissent. the government administration doesn't like, liberal organisations threatened with audits, loss of tax status, critics of the Trump administration like John Bolton or Kamala Harris losing their security protection. You know, area after area, example after example, where the Trump administration and Trump is choosing to use the full power of his office and the federal government to punish and sanction people who criticise him and organisations that criticise him.

12:00And that is authoritarian. That is a simple word for that. And it is authoritarian and it is ugly and it's dark. Yeah. And it's not just the full power. It is an overreach of power. He puts Brendan Carr into a place of regulatory power and Brendan Carr, as the regulator, then decides to do what he thinks will please Donald Trump. This is massive overreach. There was a moment of extraordinary prescience at the Emmys on Sunday night when the winner of the Late Late Show, went on stage and actually said he'd won it for everyone, for all the late night hosts. Hello. Thank you so much. We share this category.

12:39We are honoured to share it with all writers of late night political comedy, while that is still a type of show that's allowed to exist. What you can't see there is Daniel O 'Brien makes his speech referencing those who have been cancelled already, like Stephen Colbert, and suggesting that there are more to come. And the camera immediately pans to Jimmy Kimmel, who sits there clapping. It is almost like they saw this script. They wrote this script. This script has been coming. It was nothing to do with those comments, I don't believe, that came on his show in this last few days. It was coming.

13:17It was always coming. So yes, you can look at what he said in the wake of the Charlie Kirk murder, and actually think if it hadn't been the Charlie Kirk murder, if it hadn't been comments about Donald Trump and his grieving, it would have been something else. This is part of Project 25. This is the same week where we've seen the New York Times threatened with a$15 billion lawsuit because they endorsed Kamala Harris for the campaign. Because he doesn't like their coverage. Because he doesn't like their coverage. And we've also seen this week an attack on ABC's Jonathan Karl, a reporter who asked Donald Trump a question And Trump is mocking him and reminding him that his own organisation, ABC, has previously paid out$15 million for the George Stephanopoulos interview that Trump decided was not OK.

14:06In other words, you can find the justification if you are the Trump administration wherever you want. But this is going on wholesale. and I think what it shows the media companies frankly I mean they have to take a bit of responsibility here because every time they pay out that tells Trump that he can get them to do more that tells Trump that they're craven he mocks them for actually paying out so did they get anywhere after paying out their 15 million for one interview no of course not what about CBS paying out another 16 million for that interview does that get them off the hook no of course not It just tells Trump that they are ready to do whatever he wants.

14:45They are making things easier for him to cancel them and shut them down. And Trump, obviously, despite the fact that he's been enjoying the full pomp and pageantry that Windsor Castle overnight has to offer, apparently finding the time to be absolutely thrilled. Yeah, quarter one in the morning. Yeah, ABC have done. He truthed on Truth Social. He said, great news for America. The ratings challenged. Jimmy Kimmel's show is cancelled. Again, just embracing openly. You've got to hand it to him in a way. The complete brazenness of the hypocrisy. We don't mind hypocrisy, it turns out. No, no, and he knows we don't mind.

15:18Literally say cancel. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel had zero talent and worse ratings even than Colbert, if that's possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth. So, again, he's now putting the crosshairs on someone else. Jimmy and Seth, two total losers on fake news NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC, President DJT. And this is the point, right, is that it's not just and this is what is so toxic about this whole approach and this whole politics of political aggression of going after your opponents and any dissent in different institutions, be they media, be they academic, be they civil society, whatever it happens to be.

15:57It's not just the people you go after. It's and we all know this. It's the behavioral change of the people you don't go after who see that someone else has been gone after. It's that moment. And we all know this in the media. You know it as well. It's that moment when you think you're writing that script or you're thinking about your story. I won't use that word. I might not use that phrase. Is it worth the hassle? Is it worth the trouble? And they know that. That is the power of these authoritarian moves. It's not just what you do. It's the stuff that never happens as a result of what you've done to others.

16:28But I think this is really on the media companies themselves. I agree. Yeah, they should get a backbone. Absolutely. I mean, imagine, OK, imagine that Nextstar, right? Imagine it gets its approval. Imagine it joins with Tegna. Imagine that they are then in 80 % of US households. but they're not allowed to show any of their content. Like, what are they going to show then that is going to please 80 % of US households? We already know that Trump's approval ratings, you know, personal ratings are absolutely tanking. So there is certainly an appetite in America for people to be slightly more truthful than the media companies feel that they can be at the moment.

17:07Now, I think on one level, they're not thinking strategically. They're not really thinking long-term about this. they're just thinking about can we get the deal over the line and then we'll see what happens. But if you're Jimmy Kimmel or if you're Stephen Colbert or if you're, who's left, Jimmy Fallon now? You know, John Stewart? Seth Meyers. Like, what are you thinking there? Are you thinking? Exactly. I mean, do you hang on? Do you kind of curtail your jokes? We know what happened with the Washington Post and Jeff Bezos. And this is the, I think this is what's so, I think what it's also. I mean, it could just be literally, it could be the end of late night comedy replaced by what?

17:45By, I don't know. State propaganda. Great news, citizens. Pig iron production up again. You'll love those. Have you seen the ballroom? It's looking gorgeous. Look at that. You know, this is the thing. I mean, I think that it is, I think it's reflective of something that's actually even more chilling in a way, which is that I think that, I said before that Trump, one, didn't behave in this way in the same manner. And I think that's broadly true. I think one of the reasons he didn't, and one of the reasons I think if he had, these companies at that time would have had way more backbone and would have stuck up to him, is because there was a sense, as we've talked on the show before, about there being great checks on his power, but also within American politics.

18:23Normally you might think, okay, we've got an overbearing president who is pushing the limits and pushing the limits and pushing the limits of his authority. Okay, well, the good news is, is that A, he'll just be there for four years, but also in the meantime as well, well, we can rely on Congress, can't we? to exert their authority and to put them in check. Oh, oh, wait. And the Supreme Court. Oh, but if we don't have Congress, then we'll rely on the Supreme Court. Oh, wait, no, we can't. Yeah, and millions to march. Yeah, and so I think what it's reflective of is a sense in America right now that the office of the president has seldom in American history appeared more powerful or to be acting with more authority.

18:57That we just have this imperial president under Trump and that therefore the best thing to do, help isn't coming. Help isn't coming from anywhere, at least for the time being. So the best thing to do is to keep your head down. And that is chilling. Yeah, I mean, it all comes down to consent. You know, the sort of first rule, I think it's a Timothy Schneider line, that the first indication, the first moment of failure with an authoritarian figure is when you give your consent. You know, somebody comes for you and you just go, yeah, fine. Okay, fine. No, no, don't worry, I'll cancel. Fine. And that is what is happening now.

19:31I mean, it'd be really interesting. They were very powerful words from the CEO of the New York Times. Plus they came for the late night hosts. Well, I mean, she's kind of hit back, not on camera that we've seen so far. Maybe that will sort of emerge in later days. But she's saying, don't you dare, you know, don't you dare. We will take on this$15 billion lawsuit. Because I think you've got to have one person who recognizes that it doesn't actually help you. as soon as it's seen to be commercially useless to cave in, then I think people will start to discover their backbone. In a moment, we'll be discussing that state visit and listening in to the press conference between Donald Trump and Keir Starmer.

20:20Stay across the latest news, breaking stories and respected opinions by listening to LBC. From award-winning internationally respected journalists. Good morning. I'm Nick Ferrari. James O 'Brien on LBC. Good afternoon. I'm Sheila Fogarty. Very good afternoon to you. Tom Swarbrick with you here. Hello, this is Andrew Marr. Hello, you're listening to Sunday with me, Lewis Goodall. Find out what the story means for you. Listen on our free Global Player app or the new LBC app. LBC, leading Britain's conversation. Summer is here. At Orderly Meds, we know this time is a reminder that life is full of new beginnings.

20:57Whether you're celebrating the nice weather, starting a new chapter, planning a vacation, or simply looking ahead to what's next, this season can be the perfect time to invest in yourself and your health. If you've struggled with weight loss and are curious about GLP-1 medications, orderly meds can help you learn about your options. Through a simple virtual process, you can connect with licensed medical professionals who can determine whether treatment may be appropriate for you. Getting started is fast, convenient, and happens online from the comfort of home. This summer, consider a new approach to feeling your best.

21:29Visit orderlymeds.com slash podcast to learn more. That's orderlymeds.com slash podcast. orderlymeds.com slash podcast. Because every new season is an opportunity to take the next step forward. Compounded medications are not FDA approved. Eligibility required and determined by a licensed provider. Individual results may vary. See website for details.

21:55The News Agents. So the state visit between Donald Trump and the king and the prime minister is now over. He's headed off. It was culminated. Obviously, state occasion, state visits are by definition stately. Most of it is entirely choreographed. The one moment of combustion or potential combustion that everyone was talking about was the much anticipated press conference between Starmer and Trump. And in a way, although for all of that anticipation and prediction of volatility, it was kind of how often these things are with Trump, which is a lot of words, a lot of them not really making much sense.

22:33And actually, most of the time, Trump sidestepping any serious point of difference between him and Starmer. Yeah, I mean, as we speak, the press conference is still going on. It's running nearly an hour late, which is why we're bringing you up to date with this. But we want to get it to you in today's episode. A colleague of ours at Sky News described, I thought, rather perfectly the feel of this whole state visit, which is something akin to the Truman Show. In other words, it's been a whole production, a whole spectacle put on just for one man. The choreograph of the soldiers and of the sort of panoply of the banquet, which no one really saw outside of Windsor Castle, was all aimed at just making Trump happy that it was a sort of night of superlatives.

23:17and today was I guess that moment of jeopardy when the British press, the American press gathered together at Chequers and very selectively are come to for questions one for the President, one for the Prime Minister the first question came from our colleague at the BBC Chris Mason who asked about Gaza and about a difference of opinion there and it was notable that Trump only really referenced the hostages and how they hadn't been given a very nice time as hostages I don't think we'll be as a prize to many. And then he was asked about Russia, about illegal crossings. And I think it's fair to say that, I mean, Trump did a lot of what we now know as the weave, you know, where he kind of rambles and rambles and rambles, goes all around the tables.

24:03But he definitely did not want to come in on any of Starmer's territory that would embarrass him. So he didn't have anything to say about illegal crossings, you know, the small boats crossings in the UK. He didn't want to say anything that would put Starmer at odds with him over Gaza particularly or even over Russia. He just said that Putin had let him down. And I think the only moment of jeopardy so far in this conference came from the GB News presenter who asked whether her question was actually to Keir Starmer, is this still a Christian country? And then she asked about free speech and arrests over tweets.

24:41Having been in DC for a few weeks, it's really interesting to see how you run the country as a proud Christian leader. And it really begs the question to the Prime Minister, if you don't mind, are we still a Christian country? But also... When you say we, are you talking here or... Here. The UK. I'm still British. I might live in America, I'm still British. I'd rather have him answer that question. I can't give you that answer. That's for the Prime Minister. but also despite what we talked about in Scotland a few weeks ago, we still have 12 ,000 people a year here being arrested for social media posts, for free speech violations.

25:17Does that not remain an important area that there is still a lot of disagreement on? I'd like to have you answer that. Yeah, look, I mean, in terms of a... I was christened, so that is... My church has been all my life, and that is wired into our informal constitution. Of course we celebrate many other faiths as well and I'm really proud that we're able to do so as a country. And on free speech, that has long lived in this country, free speech, it's one of the founding values of the United Kingdom and we protect it jealously and fiercely and always will and we will bear down on any limits on free speech.

26:04I draw a limit between free speech and the speech of those that want to peddle paedophilia and suicide social media to children and therefore I'm all for free speech. I'm also for protecting children from things that will harm them, paedophiles, those that peddle suicide which has had a terrible consequence for individual, particularly teenagers. And so that's the balance we strike. But we have had freedom of speech in this country for a very long time, and we will always protect it. Actually, neither of those really went anywhere at all. You know, I think Keir Starmer was pretty deft on that.