Barack Obama condemns 'routinely threatening' acts targeting media amid Jimmy Kimmel suspension: ...

The former president says &34;media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to&34; Donald Trump's administration. Barack Obama condemns 'ro

The former president says "media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to" Donald Trump's administration.

Barack Obama condemns 'routinely threatening' acts targeting media amid Jimmy Kimmel suspension: 'Government coercion'

The former president says "media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to" Donald Trump's administration.

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September 18, 2025 11:21 a.m. ET

Barack Obama; Jimmy Kimmel. Credit:

Alex Wong/Getty; Randy Holmes via Getty

- President Barack Obama spoke out against ABC suspending Jimmy Kimmel amid political pressure.

- Obama slammed "routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies."

- He added that media groups "need to start standing up rather than capitulating to it."

President Barack Obama has strongly condemned Donald Trump's administration "routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies" in the wake of talk show host Jimmy Kimmel's suspension from ABC following comments he made about recently assassinated political commentator Charlie Kirk.

"After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn't like," Obama said via his verified BlueSky account.

He added that "this is precisely the kind of government coercion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent" and that "media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to it."

* *has reached out to the White House and ABC representatives for a response to Obama's statement.

Randy Holmes/ABC via Getty

Obama's words came one day after* Jimmy Kimmel Live* was put on hiatus indefinitely, a network spokesperson told EW late Wednesday.

The news broke after Nexstar Media Group, owner of local TV stations, announced that its ABC affiliates would preempt *Live* following Kimmel's Kirk comments.

"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 with everything they can to score political points from it," Kimmel said of Kirk's alleged assassin on Monday's broadcast of his show.

Protesters gather outside of Jimmy Kimmel studio to oppose show's suspension

White House issues intimidating statement about 'The View' being 'pulled off the air'

In a statement, Nexstar said that it "strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets."

Conflicting information surrounding Kirk's alleged killer has ranged from indications that he came from a conservative family to NBC News reporting that Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray claimed that the suspect's mother told authorities her son became "more political and had started to lean more to the left."

Following news that Kimmel had been suspended, Trump reacted on his Truth Social platform. "Great news for America: The ratings-challenged Jimmy Kimmel show is CANCELLED," he wrote, adding, "Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that's possible."

He cited other late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers in his subsequent comments: "That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC," Trump wrote. "Their ratings are also horrible. Do it, NBC!!!"

Barack Obama in October 2024.

Debra L Rothenberg/WireImage

Meanwhile, MSNBC host Chris Hayes blasted the move as "the most straightforward attack on free speech from state actors I've ever seen in my life and it's not even close."

Trump previously celebrated CBS canceling Stephen Colbert's *Late Show *over what many considered a move to sweeten a then-impending merger deal — which the FCC would need to approve — between Paramount and the Skydance media company.

In a September 2024 interview with EW, comedian Kathy Griffin predicted that Trump would eventually go after comedians, naming Kimmel specifically.

Protests erupt in support of Jimmy Kimmel.

NBCLA/Youtube; Robin L Marshall/Getty

"If he gets re-elected, he'll go after Jimmy Kimmel, he'll go after Jon Stewart, all the name ones, but he'll go after Rosie O'Donnell. That's all he's going to do all day," she said at the time. "He'll have press conferences about it. He's so much crazier than he was the first go-round."

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In recent months, the Trump administration and other government officials have issued threatening statements directed at various media figures, ranging from the cohosts of *The View* to ABC News' Jonathan Karl, with Trump saying earlier this week at a White House press conference that he'd "probably go after" him and his parent network.****

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