Jimmy Kimmel’s fans unleashed a flood of complaints on the President Donald Trump-aligned FCC after the late-night host’s show was yanked from the air last year.
The “vast majority” of complaints sent to the FCC after ABC temporarily suspended Kimmel’s show—amid pressure from FCC chair Brendan Carr following MAGA backlash over the comedian’s remarks about Charlie Kirk’s assassination—targeted the FCC rather than Kimmel, according to TMZ.
The complaints accused the government of censorship and argued they were violating the First Amendment by pushing networks to pull Kimmel—a frequent target of Trump’s ire—according to the outlet, which obtained complaints from September 2025 through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Many used colorful language to slam Carr, 47, for yielding to Trump’s agenda, TMZ reported. One complaint dated Sept. 19, 2025, asks, “Why Is Your Boss Such A Thin-skinned Loser Who Hates Free Speech?”—referring either to Carr or Trump.
Only a handful of complaints actually were aimed at Kimmel, 58, according to TMZ, and a few mentioned fellow late-night host Stephen Colbert, another personality Trump regularly lashes out at.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House and the FCC for comment.
ABC, whose parent company is Disney, took Kimmel off the air for five days in September, to Trump’s delight, after Carr threatened to revoke ABC’s broadcasting license in response to Kimmel’s comment about MAGA’s reaction to Kirk’s assassination.
Kimmel had said during a monologue, “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.”
His suspension sparked an uproar over free speech, with calls to boycott ABC and Disney. Approximately 400 major Hollywood stars, including Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, and Jennifer Aniston, signed an open letter condemning the suspension.
Just days after pulling the host, Disney announced that Jimmy Kimmel Live! would resume airing, claiming the decision to take him off the air was made after the company deemed his comments “ill-timed and thus insensitive.”
Kimmel returned with no apology but an emotional address to Kirk’s widow, Erika, while also skewering Trump and Carr.
