The Television Critics Association became the latest Hollywood organization to speak out in defense of Jimmy Kimmel early Friday morning, while also condemning ABC for succumbing to the Trump administration’s authoritarianism.
“The Walt Disney Company’s capitulation to the demands of the FCC chair this week represents a wanton disregard of the First Amendment’s guarantee to a right for people and the press to speak without government retribution,” the group of nearly 250 critics said in a statement. “The government attempting to punish creatives, writers and/or journalists for speech that officials do not like is authoritarianism. Corporations that profit from the words of television stars, writers and journalists must defend their employees from governmental pressure, which is different from setting their own creative and editorial standards.”
The TCA also referenced fellow entertainment bodies the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA in its message, two days after Disney and ABC indefinitely suspended Kimmel for his Monday night coverage of the Charlie Kirk assassination.
The critics association further likened FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s involvement back to other instances of government overstep under Trump 2.0, including removing the Associated Press from the White House press pool and the defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Read the full TCA statement, below:
“The Television Critics Association (TCA) condemns ABC’s indefinite suspension of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!,’ which is the latest in a series of actions aimed at silencing critics of the Trump administration.
The Walt Disney Company’s capitulation to the demands of the FCC chair this week represents a wanton disregard of the First Amendment’s guarantee to a right for people and the press to speak without government retribution.
TCA is a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 in part ‘to increase the public’s understanding of television; to improve television as an important element in American life and culture; and to encourage activity that adds to the value of television as a communications medium.’ Its nearly 250 members are professional journalists — critics, reporters and editors — who cover television in the United States and Canada.
TCA stands with the Writers Guild of America, which said in a statement it is ‘united in opposition to anyone who uses their power and influence to silence the voices of writers, or anyone who speaks in dissent,’ and SAG-AFTRA, which said this ‘is the type of suppression and retaliation that endangers everyone’s freedoms.’
Kimmel’s suspension comes two months after CBS announced ‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’s’ cancellation as Paramount Global awaited the FCC’s ruling on a merger, and is the latest example of the administration’s hostility to a free press, including removing the Associated Press from the White House press pool and Congress defunding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
The government attempting to punish creatives, writers and/or journalists for speech that officials do not like is authoritarianism. Corporations that profit from the words of television stars, writers and journalists must defend their employees from governmental pressure, which is different from setting their own creative and editorial standards.”
