Outside the El Capitan Entertainment Centre in Los Angeles, a sea of pro-Jimmy Kimmel signs fluttered in the late September breeze, their messages a blend of humor and defiance. For weeks, Kimmel’s nightly monologues—once a staple of American late-night television—had gone silent, the result of a political storm that has swept through the nation’s media landscape with unprecedented force. The events leading up to his suspension and eventual reinstatement have exposed deepening fissures in American civil liberties, the rule of law, and the future of comedy as a tool for dissent.
It all began in the somber aftermath of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination. What was intended as a memorial service quickly shifted from heartfelt tributes to a stage for political recrimination. According to People For the American Way President Svante Myrick, the event “moved from worship and tributes to his faith to a series of regime officials, most notably Stephen Miller, blaming a nefarious but undefined ‘they’ for what seems to have been the act of a lone gunman—and to call for reprisals against ‘the radical left.’”
President Donald Trump himself took the podium, pointedly rejecting the forgiveness expressed by Kirk’s widow, Erika, and instead doubling down on animosity. “I hate my opponents and I don’t want the best for them,” Trump declared, according to CounterPunch, contrasting his stance with the Christian ethos of loving one’s enemies. The message was clear: the administration was in no mood for reconciliation.
The reverberations of Kirk’s killing quickly spread beyond the political sphere and into the world of entertainment. Late-night television hosts, long the jesters of American politics, found themselves in the crosshairs. Jimmy Kimmel, known for his sharp wit and willingness to poke fun at those in power, made a joke about the “MAGA gang” politicizing Kirk’s death. The reaction from the Trump administration was swift and severe. Brendan Carr, a Trump-appointed official at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), threatened ABC and its parent company Disney, warning that their ability to do business could be jeopardized if Kimmel was not disciplined.
ABC, already bruised from a recent $15 million settlement with Trump over a defamation suit involving George Stephanopoulos, responded by suspending Kimmel indefinitely. The move sparked outrage across the political spectrum and among Hollywood’s creative community. Protests erupted outside Kimmel’s studio, with supporters holding up signs and demanding his return. As Bloomberg reported, the controversy also highlighted the tension between corporate executives’ duties to shareholders and the mounting pressures from the Trump administration.
The chilling effect was not confined to Kimmel. CBS announced it would cancel The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, citing “financial reasons.” Yet, as CounterPunch noted, many observers suspected the real motive was to smooth the path for Paramount’s sale to Skydance, which required government approval. The FCC approved the deal shortly after Colbert’s cancellation was announced, fueling suspicions that political considerations had trumped creative ones.
Even after ABC reversed course and reinstated Kimmel on September 23, 2025, the saga was far from over. Two major television conglomerates, Sinclair and Nexstar, initially refused to broadcast Kimmel’s return on their local ABC affiliates, slashing his potential audience by nearly a quarter. Only after mounting public pressure did they relent, agreeing to air his show again by Friday, September 26.
Meanwhile, Trump continued to escalate his campaign against dissenting voices in media. According to CounterPunch, he publicly called for NBC to cancel both Seth Myers and Jimmy Fallon, and warned that any television station criticizing him could lose its operating license. Such threats, once unthinkable in the American context, have become alarmingly commonplace.
For many, these developments evoke uncomfortable parallels with authoritarian regimes abroad. John Feffer, writing for CounterPunch, drew comparisons to North Korea, where satire is criminalized, and Russia, where Vladimir Putin swiftly ended the popular puppet show Kukly after it dared to lampoon him. “If Trump goes for the Russian option, he’ll put all TV under state control, subject independent media to fines and lawsuits, and force all self-respecting journalists into exile,” Feffer warned.
The crackdown has not been limited to television. The broader entertainment industry has felt the squeeze, as comedians and satirists weigh the risks of crossing political red lines. Feffer pointed to the example of China, where a single joke by a stand-up comic led to detentions and multimillion-dollar fines, chilling the entire comedy industry. While the United States has not yet reached such extremes, the specter of self-censorship looms large. “Stand-up comedy in the United States has often focused on sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Political humor hasn’t really been big since the days of Tom Lehrer,” Feffer observed. “So, once the late-night hosts are muzzled, it might not be so difficult for Trump to impose his utopian vision: don’t say or write or show anything that makes America (and Trump) look bad.”
Yet, in the face of mounting repression, there have been glimmers of resistance. Kimmel’s reinstatement, driven by a groundswell of public support, demonstrated that collective action can still sway corporate and political decision-makers. “Kimmel’s return is an encouraging sign that public opinion can still have an impact when mobilized to defend freedom from Trump regime authoritarianism,” Myrick wrote in his op-ed.
Others have urged Americans not to succumb to despair. Stockton, California’s former mayor Michael Tubbs, now an adviser to Governor Gavin Newsom, offered a rallying cry: “Pessimism is a luxury we cannot afford. Pessimism, like despair, is disempowering. And we truly cannot afford that.”
Still, the landscape remains fraught. As Myrick noted, “The intensified demonization of Trump’s opponents goes hand in hand with his brazen use of the Justice Department to target personal enemies, and with MAGA-supporting Supreme Court justices collaborating in the dismantling of checks and balances that are supposed to protect Americans from presidents who abuse their power.”
Recent revelations, such as the Trump Justice Department’s alleged quashing of an FBI investigation into deportation czar Tom Homan over a $50,000 cash payment, have only deepened concerns about the erosion of the rule of law. Meanwhile, Trump’s threats of new tariffs on foreign films and furniture manufacturers underscore his willingness to wield economic power to reshape the American landscape in his image, as reported by Bloomberg.
For many Americans, the fate of late-night comedy has become a barometer of the nation’s democratic health. If jesters can no longer mock the king, what hope remains for dissent? As the late Norman Lear, legendary TV producer and champion of free speech, once reminded Kimmel, progress toward freedom and justice is never linear, but it is always worth fighting for.
In these turbulent times, the laughter that once united a nation now serves as both a rallying cry and a warning. The battle for the soul of American comedy—and, by extension, its democracy—rages on, one punchline at a time.
