1 of 5 | Jimmy Kimmel speaks at the celebration of life for Kobe Bryant and Gianna Bryant at Staples Center in Los Angeles on February 24, 2020. Kimmel's late-night show was indefinitely suspended in response to comments he made about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo
Sept. 18 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Thursday denied that the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel's show had anything to do with government censorship, saying instead that Disney made the decision based on "bad ratings" and misleading statements made by the late-night host.
Critics of the Trump administration, however, are demanding Carr's resignation, calling the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! a suppression of free speech.
Speaking during a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London, Trump shrugged off the suggestion that Kimmel's suspension was an attack on free speech.
"Well, Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else, and he said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk," Trump said.
