David Letterman Says Kimmel’s Suspension Is ‘Just Not How This Works’
Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart and David Letterman all warned on Thursday that the country was sliding toward an autocracy after ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show following pressure from the Trump administration.
Speaking in a monologue during his daily program, Mr. Colbert said, “Tonight we are all Jimmy Kimmel,” and declared that ABC’s move to “indefinitely” pull Mr. Kimmel’s show off the air amounted to “blatant censorship.”
“With an autocrat, you cannot give an inch,” Colbert said. “If ABC thinks that this is going to satisfy the regime, they are woefully naive. And clearly they’ve never read the children’s book If You Give a Mouse a Kimmel.”
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Whether it’s the Des Moines Register’s publication of an unfavorable election poll, a routine edit of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, or the Associated Press’s decision in its authoritative stylebook to continue to use “Gulf of Mexico,” Donald Trump and the White House have used executive authority and legal reprisals in an effort to punish and suppress press coverage that runs contrary to the administration’s preferred narratives.
Democracy and politics | Signalgate | The CBS submission | Voiceless America
Related Knowledge Center: Democracy and politics
News organizations are scrambling to find a coverage approach that adequately informs the American public about the country’s slide from democracy to authoritarian rule.
Related Knowledge Center: Free speech and public protest
The First Amendment is facing challenging times: Crackdowns on campus protests prompted both-sides claims of intolerance. Attempts to head off dangerous health misinformation have been characterized as violations of free speech. Donald Trump is publicly punishing news outlets that deviate from his administration’s version of events while privately suing some outlets into submission.
The White House vs. the press | Voiceless America