Virtually no one cared about Jimmy Kimmel’s Monday night monologue until Wednesday evening. Only after FCC Chair Brendan Carr appeared on a podcast to telegraph his wishes did ABC/Disney pull the second most popular host in late night off the air.

While the current president praised the move (Donald Trump posted on Truth Social: “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. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!! President DJT”.), and a former president lamented it (Barack Obama posted on X: “After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.”), neither reaction is exactly surprising. Newsworthy, but not surprising. 

Retribution, after all, is literally what Trump campaigned on. Kimmel has been a staunch critic of the president, and his indefinite suspension should please the same folks that cheered when CBS announced Stephen Colbert’s “Late Night” show would be canned next year.

This will not likely adversely affect ABC/Disney. The corporate parent is, after all, seeking FCC approval for ESPN’s acquisition of the NFL Network. Similarly, Nexstar, operator of 23 ABC affiliates, announced it would preempt Kimmel shortly before ABC/Disney pulled Kimmel. Nexstar is seeking FCC approval for a multibillion-dollar acquisition of TEGNA, the spinoff from the old Gannett television apparatus. 

Kimmel will be OK. The 20+ year late night veteran has been alluding to wanting to step away after his current contract anyway. Now, if he wants, he goes out a hero.

This will obviously affect Kimmel’s staff, the late night habits of millions and the Los Angeles talk show scene (which now has zero mainstream late night shows).

But the group that will bear the brunt of this firing could be Republican candidates on the 2026 (and 2028, for that matter) ballots.

Carr said the Kimmel suspension came at the behest of network affiliates. Appearing on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on Thursday, Carr said this wasn’t his doing, just a smart move by some affiliates. 

After telling CNBC’s Jim Cramer that networks do not need a government official that OKs scripts, Cramer asked Carr, “How would you be sure that the host is saying something that you would think is OK?”

Carr’s answer spoke to what he said would be the preferences of local affiliate audiences. 
 
CARR: “That’s not my — it’s not up to me. The way this works is that the local broadcast station is supposed to be responsible for the content. So, the check on that content is not the government, it’s not me here at the FCC, it’s your local TV station in Provo, Utah. It’s your local TV station in Scranton. It’s on them. Under the law, they’re responsible for the content. They’re responsible for judging whether they think it’s in the public interest or serves the needs of their local communities. Not for me to decide. But I’m very pleased that they feel empowered to stand up to Disney and Comcast in the appropriate cases.”

So how will this play in, let’s say, Scranton, Pa., a midsize, purple city in a purple state? Scranton is a fine representation of middle America, an area Democrats and Republicans have to fight to win each election. The current lawmaker representing Scranton, Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan, beat then-Rep. Matt Cartwright, a Democrat, last year, 50.7-49.1. For years, Cartwright was one of the Democrats’ more vulnerable members and found a way to win, until last year, when Trump’s win in the Keystone State helped push his opponent over the line. 

So what?

Late night viewers are older. It’s a demographic loyal in their viewing habits. It’s also a demographic larger than the late night cable demo. The folks solely watching MSNBC, CNN and Fox are locked in. The people still getting their jokes at 11:30 every night? Those are the kind of people who will remember when their late night host was censored. Most Americans are not in favor of censorship.

The firings of Kimmel and Colbert are so important because both hosts appealed to an older, diverse set of Americans who actually vote. While an increasingly growing media landscape is siloed off into social media streams that cater to one type of voter or another, late night does its best to appeal to everyone. Sure, some of the jokes are political, but the shows aren’t inherently political — they’re entertaining. They are not state-sponsored propaganda. The lesson most people will take away from the firings of Kimmel and Colbert, once again, the top two rated hosts in late night, is censorship. One political party, or those seeking to curry favor with it, censored a comedy institution over jokes. That is a bad look.

Next year Kimmel and Colbert, two guys with decades of experience speaking to all Americans on a nightly basis, will have a whole lot of time on their hands to remind people why they’re no longer the last people their audience sees before they go to bed. It might have made economic sense for their bosses to drop them in 2025. In 2026 and 2028 the politics might turn out differently, though.