CNN panelists on Tuesday warned that President Donald Trump's efforts to get late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel cancelled should be a "wake-up call" for everyday Americans.
CNN media analyst Brian Stelter and Bill Carter, a former media reporter for The New York Times, discussed the Trump administration's efforts to remove Kimmel from the airwaves on "The Source with Kaitlan Collins" on Tuesday night. Their comments come at a time when Kimmel will tape his first show since receiving an "indefinite" suspension from Nexstar Media Group and local ABC affiliates last week.
"What's important about the last week, the uproar across the country, the groundswell of attention, the criticism of ABC's move, all of the boycott talk, all of it, what's important is average Americans having free speech rights and not feeling chilled or intimidated during this dark period in our history," Stelter said.
Free speech advocates have raised concerns about Kimmel's suspension last week. Even though Kimmel is employed by a private company, experts have noted that the move seemed to occur after FCC chair Brendan Carr suggested that Kimmel be removed during an appearance on a MAGA-aligned podcast.
Collins played a clip of a recent episode of Joe Rogan's podcast, where Rogan said people who support the government pressuring a private company are "crazy."
"You are crazy for supporting this, because this will be used on you," Rogan told his audience.
Carter said on Tuesday that Rogan seemed to be echoing the sentiments of other right-wing figures who disagree with Trump's pressure campaign against Kimmel.
Stelter added that the story seemed to resonate with average Americans in ways that could hurt Trump going forward.
"This one was a wake-up call to people, partly because of local stations, partly because everybody recognizes Jimmy Kimmel, everybody knows what their local TV stations are all about," Stelter said. "So this one is resonating in a different way."