Jimmy Kimmel has another free-speech defender: Megyn Kelly, who sharply criticized Donald Trump’s demands for Disney and ABC to fire the late-night host over Kimmel’s roast of Melania Trump as having “the glow of an expectant widow.”
Kelly, on Thursday’s episode of her podcast, “The Megyn Kelly Show,” said she thought Kimmel’s joke “was out of line.” She also said that “ABC set the rules for how we engage in cancel culture. They have lots of examples. They’ve got many scalps on their wall.” For example, ABC in 2018 canceled Roseanne Barr’s sitcom after Barr posted a comment on Twitter referring to former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett as looking like the offspring of the “Muslim Brotherhood & Planet of the Apes.” (Barr had apologized for the tweet.)
Kelly continued, “And if we’re gonna go by ABC/Disney’s standards, then it’s not good news for Jimmy. You know, the standard has to be applied even when the person offended is a Republican. But of course, ABC doesn’t really operate that way.”
All that said, however, Kelly opined that it was wrong for Trump to be demanding private companies fire employees, especially over free-speech issues.
“He just retweeted again today that he wants Kimmel fired,” Kelly said. “It’s very inappropriate. The president of the United States should not be calling for any private company to fire any employee, especially over free speech.”
Trump on Thursday morning repeated his call for ABC and Disney to fire Kimmel. “When is ABC Fake News Network firing seriously unfunny Jimmy Kimmel, who incompetently presides over one of the Lowest Rated shows on Television?” Trump fumed in a post on his Truth Social account. “People are angry. It better be soon!!! President DJT.”
It’s worth noting that Trump recently blasted Kelly, alongside other conservative influencers including Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, for opposing the Trump-led war on Iran. Trump called them “NUT JOBS” and “TROUBLEMAKERS” with “Low IQs,” who have “Third Rate Podcasts.”
Meanwhile, on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Thursday, Meryl Streep appeared on the show and sang Kimmel’s praises in the face of Trump’s bullying. “You’re a prince. You are a Knight Templar,” Streep said. “You’re carrying the banner of freedom of the press.”
Amid Trump’s agitation for Kimmel’s ouster, the FCC this week issued an unprecedented order forcing Disney’s ABC to reapply for spectrum licenses for its eight owned-and-operated stations on an accelerated schedule. The Trump-appointed chairman of the FCC, Brendan Carr, denied the agency was pressured by the White House on the matter. Carr stood by the FCC’s official position that the ABC license review is related to the agency’s investigation into Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices and not because of “speech.”
Last fall, Carr had threatened that ABC affiliates could be subject to “news distortion” investigations if they didn’t drop “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, coming after Kimmel’s comments about Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
National Association of Broadcasters chief Curtis LeGeyt called the FCC’s review of ABC’s licenses “nearly unprecedented” and said the order ran counter to established principles of “predictability, fairness and transparency.” Asked about that at a press conference Thursday, Carr referenced religious broadcasters’ objection to the Kimmel joke. “NAB’s gonna say what the NAB’s gonna say, I get it… I guess Disney’s a member of NAB. But broadcasters are not all with NAB on this,” Carr said. “We have the National Religious Broadcasters that filed a petition with the FCC calling on the FCC to take action on Disney” with respect to Kimmel’s Melania joke.
Kimmel’s joke on the April 23 airing of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” featured a mock White House Correspondents’ Dinner in which he said Melania had the glow of an “expectant widow.” That came two days before the real WHCD, during which an armed man charged through a security checkpoint before he was apprehended (and subsequently charged with attempting to assassinate President Trump).
This past Monday, Kimmel defended his joke about Melania, saying it was “about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am” and that “It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination. And they know that.” Kimmel said, “I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject,” adding in a remark pointed toward the First Lady, “And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.”