Trump faces a MAGA backlash over free speech amid Jimmy Kimmel controversy

WASHINGTON ‒ President Donald Trump is facing a rare backlash from a growing number of MAGA allies over free speech concerns in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination, as Republicans who are typically hesitant to criticize Trump warn of government overreach.

The pushback follows Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr's threats against ABC to pull late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel ‒ who is now set to go back on air Sept. 23 following widespread criticism of ABC's move ‒ and warnings from Attorney General Pam Bondi about prosecuting "hate speech."

While Trump cheered Kimmel's brief suspension ‒ and called for other late-night show hosts to be axed ‒ Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and conservative commentators Candace Owens and Ben Shapiro each denounced the FCC's threats. Other Republican lawmakers echoed the concerns, arguing the government shouldn't decide what is appropriate for the airwaves.

"Federal action if you carry the Jimmy Kimmel show? Does that seem right to you?" Owens said on her podcast. "If you're on the right, and you cheered this on, do you understand ‒ we never ever, ever should be applauding federal action when it comes to speech. We're all losing. You have to wake up."

Shapiro said Kimmel is a "schmuck who should have been taken off the air years ago."

But Shapiro also added: "I do not want the FCC in the business of telling local affiliates that their licenses will be removed if they broadcast material that the FCC deems to be informationally false. Why? Because one day the shoe will be on the other foot."

Kimmel's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" is set to return on ABC on the night of Sept. 23, less than one week after the Walt Disney Co. announced it had pulled the comedian's late-night show off the air due to controversial comments about Kirk's death. However, Nexstar Media Group, one of the largest owners of broadcast TV stations, on Sept. 23 said it is standing by its decision not to air Kimmel's show. Sinclair Broadcast Group also announced it will preempt Kimmel's show on its ABC affiliates.

ABC's suspension of Kimmel's show came after Carr publicly threatened to revoke licenses from ABC and its local affiliates if it continued to air the late-night program.

Cruz, a close ally of Trump, compared Carr's tactics to those of a mob boss as he condemned the FCC chairman's threats. "He says, 'We can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way,' " Cruz, referring to Carr, said in an episode of his podcast released Sept. 19. "That's right out of 'Goodfellas.' That's right out a mafioso coming into a bar, going, 'Nice bar you have here. It’d be a shame if something happened to it.' "

Cruz called Carr's threats "dangerous as hell" and warned of the consequences when a Democrat returns to the White House one day. "They will silence us. They will use this power, and they will use it ruthlessly."

"It might feel good right now to threaten Jimmy Kimmel, but when it is used to silence every conservative in America, we will regret it," said Cruz, a former Trump 2016 GOP presidential primary rival.

Sen. Todd Young, R-Indiana, commended Cruz's remarks: "As Americans, we must cherish and protect free speech." So did Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky. "You don’t have to like what somebody says on TV to agree that the government shouldn’t be getting involved here," the former Senate majority leader said. Republican Sen. Rand Paul, in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," called Carr's warnings "absolutely inappropriate."

The criticism follows an earlier MAGA rebuke after Bondi on Sept. 15 vowed the Department of Justice will go after “those who engage in hate speech," even though the First Amendment has widely been interpreted as protecting hate speech.

"Get rid of her. Today," conservative influencer Matt Walsh wrote on X. "This is insane. Conservatives have fought for decades for the right to refuse service to anyone. We won that fight. Now Pam Bondi wants to roll it all back for no reason."

Bondi later seemed to back off her broad threat, writing in a statement that, "Hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment. It's a crime."

In response to Kirk's fatal shooting, White House officials have signaled plans to target liberal organizations they've accused of promoting political violence. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Sept. 22 said Trump will soon take “strong action” against “dark sources funding and supporting” domestic terrorism from the left.

Amid the Kimmel controversy, Trump has suggested the FCC should go even further by considering revoking broadcast licenses from television networks he claimed target him with overwhelmingly negative coverage of him. "They give me only bad publicity or press," Trump said. "I would think maybe their license should be taken away. It will be up to Brendan Carr.”

Yet Trump's idea of broadening the power of the FCC hasn't taken off in the MAGA world. And prominent podcasters and influencers who gave Trump a platform before the 2024 presidential election are now accusing the president and his followers of embracing the "cancel culture" they once mocked from the left.

"It is funny to watch right-wing people just become left-wing people," said Akaash Singh, co-host of the "Flagrant" podcast, which welcomed Trump on air weeks before the 2024 election. "In terms of censorship, freedom of speech is more under attack now, honestly, than it has ever been," Singh said following the FCC's threats against Kimmel's show.

Fellow "Flagrant" co-host Andrew Schulz emphasized that Kirk had a reputation as a First Amendment absolutist, who was known for welcoming debates by defending his beliefs on traditionally liberal college campuses.

"He quite literally amplified the voices of those he disagreed with. How do you think he would feel about his tragic death being used to silence political opposition?" Schulz said on a recent episode of the podcast. "Do you think that he would advocate for canceling Jimmy? There's no way. I think he'd be furious about it."

Reach Garrison on X @joeygarrison.