00:00Maybe that's why his hands are all bruised from Melania swatting them away.
00:04Donald Trump is once again pressuring ABC to cancel Jimmy Kimmel's late-night talk show.
00:09Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday morning,
00:12when is ABC fake news network firing seriously unfunny Jimmy Kimmel,
00:16who incompetently presides over one of the lowest-rated shows on television?
00:20People are angry. It better be soon.
00:22ABC has thus far remained silent on the controversy surrounding Jimmy Kimmel Live this week.
00:27Kimmel has continued going after the president in his monologues after Trump and First Lady Melania
00:32Trump tried to link the shooting at Saturday's White House Correspondents Dinner to a joke Kimmel
00:37made the previous week, where he poked fun at the president's age and said Melania had, quote,
00:41a glow like an expectant widow. On Wednesday's show, Kimmel joked that he's helped bring the
00:45president and the First Lady closer. Last night, our first couple, Donald and Melania,
00:50who lately have seemed closer than ever, and I like to think I played a part in that.
00:54Kimmel then showed a video of the duo standing with King Charles and Queen Camilla.
00:58After Melania pulled her hand away from Trump's, the president poked her hand,
01:02and they held hands again. The host went on to say this.
01:05Considering the week I've had with the first couple,
01:07I'm just going to say that as a completely normal way to interact
01:11for two people who are very much in love.
01:15On Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission announced it was reviewing ABC's broadcast licenses.
01:20The FCC said Disney's stance on diversity may have violated anti-discrimination rules.
01:25But given FCC Chair Brendan Carr's previous attack on ABC affiliates over a Kimmel joke last year,
01:31the timing certainly suggested the Trump administration was looking to punish the network over Kimmel.
01:36Today, Carr said the review is unrelated.
01:39Despite Trump's claims that people are angry at Kimmel,
01:41a perhaps surprising number of right-wing names have come out in support of the host.
01:45Podcaster Ben Shapiro said to fire Kimmel for his expectant widow joke would be like, quote,
01:50getting Al Capone on tax evasion.
01:52Meanwhile, Texas Senator Ted Cruz said the FCC was overstepping.
01:55He told Punchbowl News,
01:57it is not government's job to censor speech,
01:59and I do not believe the FCC should operate as the speech police.
02:03For more on this story, go to THR.com.
02:05This is The Hollywood Reporter News.
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