Trump proposes revoking licenses of critical American TV networks

The US president has claimed that the television networks only give him “bad publicity”

US President Donald Trump has floated the idea of “maybe” revoking the broadcast licenses of American television networks that provide negative coverage of him.

The suggestion came a day after ABC indefinitely suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show, following what it called “offensive and insensitive” comments made by the comedian about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Kimmel claimed on his program that Trump and his supporters were trying to “score political points” over Kirk’s killing and compared the president’s reaction to his death to “how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.”

Trump, who was returning from the UK aboard Air Force One on Thursday, told journalists that TV networks “give me only bad publicity or press.”

“I mean, they are getting a license. I would think maybe their license should be taken away,” he said.

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However, the president noted that it will be up to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr to rule whether to keep the networks on air or not. So far, the FCC head has been “doing a great job,” according to Trump.

Just hours before ABC suspended ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’, Carr told podcaster Benny Johnson that “these companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.” He warned that “we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

Trump welcomed the move by ABC in a post on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, suggesting that NBC's late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers should also be “canceled.”

Trump stressed that the late-night shows “have not had a conservative on in years or something, somebody said, but when you go back and take a look, all they do is hit Trump. They are licensed. They are not allowed to do that.”

READ MORE: Jimmy Kimmel suspended over ‘offensive’ Charlie Kirk comments

In his show on Tuesday, Meyers accused Trump of “pursuing a crackdown on free speech,” while late-night comedian Stephen Colbert, whose show on CBS will not be prolonged after May 2026, claimed that “this is blatant censorship. With an autocrat, you can’t give an inch.”