Marc Maron has hit out at the Trump administration after Jimmy Kimmel Live! was pulled “indefinitely” from ABC’s programming.
It comes following the host’s recent comments about Charlie Kirk’s death. The right wing activist was shot in the neck and killed at Utah Valley University campus on September 10, where he was hosting his first event as part of his ‘America Comeback Tour’.
Following the shooting, Kimmel said during his Monday night (September 15) monologue that all signs point to Kirk’s shooter being a Trump supporter: “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterise this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
The late-night host also criticised flags being flown at half mast in honour of Kirk while the White House largely ignored the school shootings that happened on September 10, and mocked the president’s reaction to the shooting.
Kimmel’s monologue drew a number of complaints from viewers, forcing Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair Brendan Carr to seemingly threaten immediate action against Kimmel, the ABC network and its owner Disney for the comments.
Nexstar, an affiliate of ABC, then said it would be pre-empting Jimmy Kimmel Live! episodes for the foreseeable future, prompting the ABC network to pull the show indefinitely.
Now, Stick star and podcasting giant Maron has taken to Instagram to protest and accuse the Trump administration of censorship.
He began: “It’s happening. Jimmy Kimmel has been muzzled and taken off the air by his network ABC, who are buckling to and trying to appease the Nexstar media conglomerate who have a lot of affiliates, and they threatened to preempt him at the suggestion of the FCC chair.
Maron continued: “This is government censorship. This is the Trump administration coming after people who speak out against him. This is the end of it. If you have any concern or belief in real freedom or the Constitution and free speech, this is it. This is the deciding moment. This is what authoritarianism looks like right now. It’s happening. So if you’re a free speech warrior, or you really talk the talk about protecting free speech, this isn’t about saying the R word or the T word or any of that. This is government censorship.
“This isn’t fucking Twitter. This isn’t people getting cancelled because of a cultural pile-on. This is the United States government silencing voices that they disagree with. FCC Chair Carr put this out. This is his directive. This is the US government. Look, if they can come for Kimmel, they can come for anybody.”
Following the show’s indefinite suspension, Trump – who has recently been targeting late-night talkshow hosts that have called him out – took to his Truth Social platform to celebrate: “Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible.”
Trump then turned his attention to Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, whose shows have not been cancelled or suspended: “That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!”
Speaking to YouTuber Benny Johnson yesterday (September 17), FCC chair Carr said: “[This] appears to be an action by Jimmy Kimmel to play into the narrative that this was somehow a MAGA or Republican-motivated person. What people don’t understand is that the broadcasters have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest.”
BREAKING: The FCC Chairman is threatening immediate action against Jimmy Kimmel, ABC, and Disney for deliberately misleading the public by claiming Charlie Kirk’s assassin was a MAGA Conservative.
Chairman Brendan Carr calls Kimmel’s malicious lies are “truly sick” and says they… pic.twitter.com/mGhtGMPReI
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 17, 2025
“When we see stuff like this, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead,” Carr added.
Andrew Alford, the president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, also called Kimmel’s comments “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse”.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kimmel was set to address the matter on Wednesday night’s show, but wasn’t going to apologise for his comments. He has yet to publicly comment on the show’s suspension.