Related videos:
President Donald Trump stated that broadcasting licenses should be revoked if the news outlets and their late-night shows are “almost 100% negative” about him, the MAGA movement, and the Republican Party.
In a post on Truth Social early Wednesday morning, he wrote: "If the news networks and their evening programs are almost 100% negative... shouldn't their valuable broadcasting licenses be revoked? I say yes!"
The post arrived minutes after Trump lashed out at Stephen Colbert, host of The Late Show, whom he called a “pathetic disaster” and untalented, in messages where he also mentioned that the show will end in May 2026.
In another post, Trump broadened his criticisms to include late-night hosts in general and asked who had “the worst” late-night host among CBS, ABC, or NBC, stating that, in his view, they all share “high salaries,” “lack of talent,” and “very low audience levels.”
Trump has expressed his frustration with late night hosts on other occasions, and at the beginning of this year, he already suggested revoking licenses from networks with negative coverage.
In September, he stated that the decision to revoke licenses should fall to Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
FCC grants eight-year licenses to individual broadcasting stations (many owned by networks).
Carr recently stated before the Senate that the FCC "is not formally an independent agency" and that, according to a cited report, the word "independent" was removed from the agency's website during that testimony.
According to CBS, the FCC itself states on its website that broadcasters, not the FCC or any other government agency, are responsible for selecting the material they air, and that the First Amendment and the Communications Act expressly prohibit the Commission from censoring broadcast material.
The show "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on ABC was suspended in September following a monologue in which the host commented on the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The decision came after the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) harshly criticized Kimmel and threatened to "take action" against Disney and ABC.
During his speech, Kimmel suggested the possibility that the alleged murderer, Tyler Robinson, was a Republican and a supporter of Donald Trump, stating that "the MAGA band" was trying to present him as something other than "one of their own" to gain political advantage.
Carr called Kimmel's words “the most unhealthy behavior possible” and suggested that the FCC could review or revoke the licenses of ABC affiliates as punishment.
Filed under: