The Hollywood Teamsters union has now condemned ABC’s indefinite suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, calling it a “greed fueled consolidation of corporate power” that sells out “working families and our American freedoms.”
The union also accused the FCC of using its power to approve mergers to “actively encourage corporations to clamp down even harder on free speech,” linking this directly to a merger being pursued by one of the biggest local TV broadcasters in the country.
“We are witnessing a dangerous trend of corporations trying to fast-track mergers through the back door. This reckless and greed-fueled consolidation of corporate power is a direct threat to good union jobs and the livelihoods of our members. Do not let the politics of the moment distract you — corporations are selling out working families and our American freedoms to amass even greater wealth,” the Teamsters said in a statement.
FCC chairman Brendan Carr threatened ABC and Disney during podcast appearance Wednesday, demanding that Kimmel be suspended or fired for a comment he made about Charlie Kirk’s killer. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr literally said.
Hours later, Nexstar, which has more than 200 owned or partner stations in 116 U.S. markets, said it would preempt the broadcast of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” indefinitely, calling Kimmel’s remarks “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse.” Sinclair made a similar announcement soon after.
As Teamsters pointed out in its statement, Nexstar is seeking FCC approval for a $6.2 billion merger with competing broadcast station group Tegna. While Nexstar has denied that the merger played a factor in its decision to suspend Kimmel, which ABC then followed with a nationwide suspension of his show, Teamsters sees it otherwise.
“Once completed, this merger deal could result in this company owning 80% of US TV households and far exceeds the longtime 39% limit on ownership of stations that we’ve seen over the past three decades,” the union said.
“Carr is not a politician — he is a regulator. The personal political opinions of any regulator should not result in job loss for ordinary, hardworking Americans. We should not be watching our government actively encourage corporations to clamp down even harder on free speech. It’s inappropriate and lethal for our democracy and economy,” the statement continued.
Following Trump’s election victory last year, it was expected that his return to the White House would hasten the expected consolidation of Hollywood’s media companies.
But Carr’s leadership at the FCC has led to a twist in that trend, as the regulator has been accused of using merger approvals to push companies into complying with Trump’s demands on a wide range of issues, from eliminating DEI initiatives to Paramount agreeing to a settlement of a lawsuit filed by the president against CBS News and “60 Minutes” for an interview with Trump’s election opponent, Kamala Harris, in exchange for approval of a merger with Skydance.
Hollywood Teamsters’ statement condemning Kimmel’s suspension and the Nexstar-Tegna merger bid also comes a week after the Wall Street Journal reported that Paramount, under new CEO David Ellison, is putting together a bid to acquire the entirety of fellow legacy studio Warner Bros. Discovery.
“If left unchecked, the consolidation we see at corporations like Nexstar will continue to inflict great harm on the film and television industry, resulting in more layoffs, reduced job security, less content, and an overall need for fewer skilled Hollywood workers,” Teamsters said.
On Thursday, protests were staged outside the Disney backlot in Burbank as well as in front of the Hollywood Masonic Temple, where “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” has been broadcast since its premiere in 2003. Members of multiple Hollywood unions, most notably the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA, were seen at the protests.
What set this off is that on Monday during his monologue, 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.”
Kimmel’s assumption that Robinson had right wing political views was based on all available evidence that was public as of Monday. But on Tuesday, more details came out that established pretty clearly that Robinson didn’t hold right wing politics, may be at least somewhat left wing, and was apparently motivated by personal concerns. Many questions remain unanswered, however.
That context has largely been ignored by conservative critics, or those entities the Teamsters accuse of seeking favor with the Trump administration.