WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump suggested that U.S. broadcast networks should face scrutiny over their licenses if their content is overwhelmingly critical of him, and defended ABC’s decision to suspend late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s show indefinitely over remarks about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

“That’s something that should be talked about for licensing, too. When you have a network and you have evening shows, and all they do is hit Trump,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “They’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that. They’re an arm of the Democrat party.”

Trump praised FCC Chair Brendan Carr and drew a direct link between coverage that the president views as negative and the prospect of TV licenses being revoked as a consequence.

“I read someplace that the networks were 97% against me again, I get 97% negative. And yet I won it easily. I won all seven swing states, the popular vote, whatever. They’re 97% against. They give me totally bad publicity, the press,” Trump said. “They’re getting a license. I would think maybe their license should be taken away. It will be up to Brendan Carr. I think Brendan Carr is outstanding. He’s a patriot. He loves our country, and he’s a tough guy. So we’ll have to see.”

The comments add up to Trump’s furthest-reaching threat to U.S. broadcasters who control both industry-leading television news operations as well as air mass-market entertainment that’s freely accessible to anyone with a television and viewed daily by millions. Trump and Republicans have long complained that Hollywood, broadly, is unfavorable to conservatives, and the president has repeatedly called for CBS, ABC and NBC to part with their late night comedic hosts who are frequently critical of his administration.

Trump’s comments come after Walt Disney Co.’s ABC network said it is taking Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air indefinitely following a backlash from conservatives over the late-night host’s comments about Kirk. Earlier Thursday, Trump backed ABC’s decision to remove Kimmel amid pressure from network affiliates who had said they were pulling the show.

“Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else, and he said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk,” Trump said Thursday during his press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

“Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person,” Trump continued. “He had very bad ratings, and they should have fired him a long time ago. So, you know, you can call that free speech or not. He was fired for lack of talent.”

Kimmel’s comments inflamed many conservative commentators and brought a rebuke from members of the Trump administration. Carr told podcast host Benny Johnson that he had a strong case to punish Kimmel, ABC and Disney. The FCC grants licenses to broadcasters such as ABC and its affiliates.

Kimmel on Monday accused Republicans of using Kirk’s death to criticize their opponents. “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them,” he said.

The suspension started with Wednesday’s broadcast, Disney said in a statement. The company announced the decision minutes after Nexstar Media Group Inc., which owns dozens of ABC TV affiliates, said it would pull the show indefinitely from its stations over remarks it cast as “offensive and insensitive.”

Trump and Vice President JD Vance have blamed Kirk’s killing on inflammatory leftist rhetoric and vowed to investigate left-leaning organizations in response. Individuals accused of celebrating his death or offering negative viewpoints of Kirk — a polarizing figure who took staunchly conservative stances on issues such as race and gender — have faced online vitriol and in some cases lost their jobs.

The moves have also come amid a broader assault by Trump on media organizations whose coverage he has been unhappy with. Last year, ABC agreed to pay $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump over comments made by host George Stephanopoulos. The president this week sued The New York Times Co. for $15 billion, claiming it has an agenda against him.

Those incidents have spurred worries among Trump critics about free speech in the U.S. even as conservatives have assailed European leaders over efforts to rein in violent or hateful rhetoric, which they say unfairly target right-leaning views.

Starmer, in particular, has been the target of furious criticism from Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, and other leaders of the populist right over British efforts to restrict speech including a wave of arrests after anti-immigrant riots last year. Critics have zeroed-in on Britain’s Online Safety Act, which was passed under the previous Conservative government in 2023, with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage criticizing the law during an appearance before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee earlier this month.

“This country’s had free speech for a very, very long time,” Starmer said Thursday during the press conference. “It is part of who we are as a country, and it is the values that we fought for. We fought for it during the Second World War, alongside each other. So we need no reminding of the importance of free speech in this country.”

Earlier this week, police in the UK arrested four men on suspicion of “malicious communications” after an image of Trump and the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein was projected onto Windsor Castle to protest the U.S. president’s visit.

_____

With assistance from Hadriana Lowenkron, Michelle Jamrisko and Ben Holland.

_____

©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.