Topline
Legal experts have raised concerns that ABC’s decision to pull “Jimmy Kimmel Live” from its airwaves following the host’s controversial comments about the death of Charlie Kirk, could be because the Trump administration violated free speech protections through a practice known as “jawboning.”
Jimmy Kimmel speaks at Disney’s Advertising Upfront on May 13 in New York City.
Disney via Getty Images
Key Facts
Disney-owned ABC announced Wednesday Kimmel’s show will be taken off the air “indefinitely,” which came after ABC affiliate owner Nexstar—which needs Federal Communications Commission approval to complete a planned acquisition of competitor Tegna Inc.—said it would not air the program due to Kimmel’s comments Monday regarding Kirk’s death and the reaction to it.
The sudden move drew particular concern because it came only hours after FCC head Brendan Carr called for ABC to “take action” against Kimmel, and cryptically suggested his agency could take action saying, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
While ABC and Nexstar have not given any indication their decisions were influenced by Carr’s comments, the timing raised concerns among legal experts that the Trump administration’s threats may have unlawfully coerced ABC and Nexstar to punish Kimmel, which could constitute jawboning.
Jawboning refers to “the use of official speech to inappropriately compel private action,” as defined by the Cato Institute, as governments or public officials—who cannot directly punish private actors for speech they don’t like—can use strongman tactics to try and indirectly silence critics or influence private companies’ actions.
The practice is fairly loosely defined and there aren’t many legal safeguards dictating how violations of it are enforced, the Knight First Amendment Institute notes, but the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled it can be unlawful and an impermissible First Amendment violation when it involves specific threats.
The White House told Forbes it “had no role” in ABC’s decision to suspend Kimmel, and the FCC, ABC News and Nexstar have not responded to requests for comment regarding the allegations that the Trump administration and Carr influenced ABC’s decision.
What To Watch For
It remains unclear if ABC will reinstate Kimmel’s show, though The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday Disney “sees a path to the show potentially returning in the next several days.” Companies owning ABC affiliates haven’t signaled any openness to welcoming Kimmel back yet, however, with Sinclair Broadcast Group saying ABC’s decision to pull Kimmel off the air was not enough and calling on the host to make a “direct apology” to Kirk’s family and “a meaningful personal donation to the Kirk Family and Turning Point USA.” Nexstar also has an incentive to continue its refusal to air Kimmel’s show, given its need to stay in the Trump administration’s good graces so its Tegna acquisition gets approved. Kimmel has not yet made any statement regarding the network’s decision to take him off the air, and it remains to be seen whether the host could take any legal action against the Trump administration accusing it of “jawboning” or unlawfully forcing ABC’s hand.
What Have Legal Experts Said About Abc’s Decision?
Multiple legal experts identified Carr’s comments about ABC—directly leading to Kimmel being taken off air—as constituting “textbook jawboning” Wednesday, with Will Creeley, litigation director at First Amendment advocacy group FIRE, saying Carr’s “easy way or the hard way” remark was a “signed confession to the jawboning the [First Amendment] prohibits.” While “private companies can do whatever they wish on their own accord,” Georgia State University law professor Anthony Michael Kreis wrote on X, “state actors … have First Amendment obligations,” adding “the federal government’s jawboning here is deeply concerning.”
Is Jawboning Unlawful?
A government official just making comments about a private actor’s speech is not unlawful in itself, First Amendment advocates told The Miami Herald. But it can become unconstitutional when an official threatens to take action against that person or company based on their speech. The Supreme Court ruled in the 1963 case Bantam Books v. Sullivan the government cannot make threats that influences speech, and has upheld that decision in subsequent rulings. The court most recently decried jawboning in a 2024 ruling in favor of the National Rifle Association, which argued a New York official had unlawfully pressured companies not to do business with the NRA. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for the Supreme Court in a unanimous ruling in that case that, “The critical takeaway is that the First Amendment prohibits government officials from wielding their power selectively to punish or suppress speech.”
What Did Jimmy Kimmel Say?
Kimmel said, “We hit 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.” The host also went on to criticize President Donald Trump’s reaction to Kirk’s death, playing a clip in which Trump seemed to brush past a question about Trump to promote the building of a new White House ballroom. “He’s at the fourth stage of grief, construction,” Kimmel quipped. “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.” The late-night host also made comments more clearly denouncing Kirk’s death, writing on social media last week, “Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human? On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.”
What Did The Trump Administration Say?
Carr slammed Kimmel’s comments about Kirk’s death to right-wing commentator Benny Johnson on Wednesday, prior to ABC’s decision, and suggested the FCC could try to pull ABC’s broadcasting license if it doesn’t take some sort of disciplinary action against the late night host. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead,” Carr said, also going on to suggest that companies running affiliate networks should refuse to air Kimmel’s program because of his speech, as Nexstar did shortly after. “I think it’s really past time that a lot of these licensed broadcasters themselves push back … and say, ‘We are not going to run Kimmel anymore until you straighten this out.’” Carr later celebrated ABC’s decision to take Kimmel off the air, but suggested he didn’t believe the decision was in response to his comments, writing on X that “broadcasters have long retained the right to not air national programs that they believe are inconsistent with the public interest” and he’s “glad to see that many broadcasters are responding to their viewers as intended.” Trump also praised ABC’s decision Wednesday night, calling it “Great News for America,” but claimed to reporters Thursday that Kimmel “was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else.” The president has also suggested he wants more broadcasters to take steps against content he doesn’t like, claiming Thursday that major networks are “97%” against him and “give me only bad press,” adding, “I would think maybe their license should be taken away.”
Key Background
Kirk, a well-known right-wing commentator, was fatally shot by a gunman Sept. 10 during a public appearance at a Utah university campus. His death sparked new debates over freedom of speech and when people can be punished for so-called “hate speech” or points of view the Trump administration doesn’t like, as Trump officials have suggested going after people on the left who have made comments celebrating Kirk’s death. Those threats have sparked pushback even from some on the right, as Republicans have long insisted on the importance of freedom of speech in the face of attacks by Democrats and so-called “cancel culture.” ABC’s decision to take Kimmel off the air also comes after ABC and other media institutions had already shown a seeming willingness to give into Trump’s threats against them, with ABC and CBS reaching high-dollar settlements over lawsuits brought against their programs. CBS’ parent company Paramount also cancelled “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in July, a move Paramount said was due to concerns about the program’s profitability, but has come under fire for taking place in light of Colbert’s criticism against Trump and Paramount’s settlement with the president.
Further Reading
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2025/09/18/legal-experts-accuse-trump-administration-of-unconstitutionally-influencing-kimmel-suspension-heres-why/
