*Nikkie Navarro
I. Introduction
Two of the most famous late-night talk show hosts in modern American television faced severe consequences after speaking out against the Trump administration.[1] One host facing consequences was Stephen Colbert, who hosted The Late Show for the last ten years.[2] After Colbert spoke out about CBS’s $16 million settlement with the Trump administration regarding a “‘60 Minutes’ interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris,” Colbert announced that CBS would be cancelling the show in May 2026.[3] Coincidentally, after announcing the cancellation, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) subsequently approved an $8 billion merger deal between Paramount Global, CBS’s owner, and Skydance Media.[4] Another host, Jimmy Kimmel, was also suspended following his remarks “on the [recent] shooting [of a known Trump ally,] right-wing [political] activist Charlie Kirk.”[5] Many suspect that the FCC used political pressure to coerce media networks to comply with the Trump administration’s agenda.[6] Although the networks cited financial strain and an attempt “to avoid further inflaming a tense situation” as the reasons behind their decisions regarding the shows,[7] the FCC’s political pressure constituted government action that renders those decisions unconstitutional.[8]
II. The Influence of the FCC and Its Violation of the First Amendment
President Trump claimed that broadcast networks only give him “bad press” and that those media outlets should have their licenses revoked.[9] President Trump then appointed a close advocate, Brendan Carr, as the FCC chair to determine whether a network should lose its license.[10] Carr launched several investigations against news networks, particularly “those who have reported on, criticized, or satirized the president.”[11] In an interview with right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson following Kimmel’s remarks, Carr stated, “Companies can find ways to change conduct to take action on Kimmel or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”[12] By implying the FCC would step in to ensure action is taken against Kimmel, Carr is using his position as chair of a government agency to regulate Kimmel’s speech, a direct violation of the First Amendment’s “right to freedom of speech, or of the press.”[13]
CBS claimed that the decision to cancel Colbert’s show “was ‘purely a financial’ one, and is ‘not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.’”[14] The Walt Disney Co., which owns ABC, stated it suspended Kimmel’s show due to the insensitive comments regarding Kirk’s death, and claimed it believed it was the best decision to avoid “inflaming a tense situation[.]”[15] However, it’s possible that the actions were taken because both broadcast media companies “have major deals pending that require approval by either the FCC or federal antitrust regulators.”[16] Carr made his expectations clear during an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity, stating, “if you are going to have a license from the FCC, we expect you to broadly serve the public interest,” and “late-night shows. . . have [now] gone from comedy to [a mechanism for] enforcing a very narrow political ideology[.]”[17] With fewer competitors in the media industry, the FCC can target companies that disagree with its broader agenda.[18]
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects speech from government agencies and officials, except in cases such as defamation, fighting words, true threats, and more.[19] By targeting and threatening the media industries through loss of broadcasting license, the FCC is violating the First Amendment via content-based viewpoint discrimination.[20] Content-based viewpoint discrimination occurs when the government regulates speech based on the message’s ideology.[21] The Trump administration is silencing speech through content-based viewpoint discrimination based on whether the speech aligns with Carr’s interpretation of serving the “public interest.”[22] Therefore, the FCC’s actions violate the First Amendment by infringing on the speech of hosts like Colbert and Kimmel.[23]
The FCC’s actions rallied Democrat and Republican representatives alike to speak out against government censorship.[24] Senator Ted Cruz stated that he plans to introduce a bill to codify protections against government censorship following Kimmel’s suspension.[25] Professor Michael Meyerson of the University of Baltimore School of Law spoke with CBS News to remind people that tolerance for government censorship cuts deep both ways, no matter what side of the political aisle one finds themselves on.[26]
III. Conclusion
The FCC’s influence in cancelling Stephen Colbert’s late-night show and suspending Jimmy Kimmel’s show demonstrates FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr’s willingness to blatantly pressure private media companies to censor criticisms of the Trump administration.[27] If these shows were cancelled or suspended out of fear that the FCC would not approve deals or revoke licenses, hosts like Colbert and Kimmel are effectively being censored, and their right to free speech is unconstitutionally being infringed upon.[28] Despite the claims that these actions are being taken for financial or societal reasons,[29] the influence of the FCC raises these actions to a level of content-based viewpoint discrimination against the media and its freedom of speech.[30] If left unchecked, the FCC’s actions on behalf of the Trump administration threaten the integrity of broadcast media and the foundational protections of the First Amendment.[31]
*Nikkie Navarro is a second-year law student at the University of Baltimore School of Law, where she is a proud Fannie Angelos Program Scholar. She serves as a Staff Editor for the University of Baltimore Law Review and is a member of the Royal Graham Shannonhouse III Honor Society. She also held roles as a Law Scholar for Contracts and a Teaching Assistant for Introduction to Legal Skills (ILS). Nikkie is currently interning for The Honorable Douglas R. M. Nazarian of the Appellate Court of Maryland and will join Markham Family Law in Bethesda, Maryland for her 2L summer. Upon graduating, Nikkie will clerk for The Honorable Angela M. Eaves at the Supreme Court of Maryland.
[1] See infra Parts I and II.
[2] Becca Wood & Gina Vivinetto, Why Was ‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’ Canceled?, TODAY (Aug. 12, 2025, at 21:56 ET), https://www.today.com/popculture/tv/why-was-the-late-show-stephen-colbert-canceled-rcna224144.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Adrian Horton & Anna Betts, Jimmy Kimmel Says Silencing Comedians Is ‘Anti-American’, as His Show Returns to Air After Suspension, The Guardian(Sep. 24, 2025, at 00:02 ET), https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/sep/24/jimmy-kimmel-says-trump-tried-his-best-to-cancel-him-as-his-show-returns-to-air-after-suspension.
[6] Izzy Wagener, Stephen Colbert’s Late Night Show Canceled, Sparking Accusations of Political Censorship; Jimmy Kimmel Incident Adds Fuel to the Fire, GEO. UNIV.: The Free Speech Project (Oct. 8, 2025, at 20:52 ET), https://freespeechproject.georgetown.edu/tracker-entries/stephen-colberts-late-night-show-canceled-sparking-accusations-of-political-censorship-jimmy-kimmel-incident-adds-fuel-to-the-fire/.
[7] Wood & Vivinetto, supra note 2; see Horton & Betts, supra note 5.
[8] See infra Part II.
[9] David Folkenflik, Jimmy Kimmel’s Suspension Shows Power of FCC’s Brendan Carr, npr (Sep. 19, 2025, at 13:27 ET), https://www.npr.org/2025/09/19/nx-s1-5546764/fcc-brendan-carr-kimmel-trump-free-speech (“‘They give me only bad press,’ Trump said. ‘They’re getting a license. I think maybe their license should be taken away. It will be up to Brendan Carr. I think Brendan Carr is outstanding. He’s a patriot. He loves our country, and he’s a tough guy. So we’ll see.’”).
[10] Id.
[11] Id.
[12] Id.
[13] See Geoffrey R. Stone & Eugene Volokh, Freedom of Speech and the Press, NAT’L CONST. CTR., https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/amendments/amendment-i/interpretations/266 (last visited Feb. 1, 2026) (“The First Amendment restrains only the government. The Supreme Court has interpreted “speech” and “press” broadly as covering not only talking, writing, and printing, but also broadcasting, using the Internet, and other forms of expression.”).
[14] Wood & Vivinetto, supra note 2.
[15] Wyatte Grantham-Philips, What to Know About Jimmy Kimmel’s Return to His Late-Night TV Show, The Associated Press (Sep. 26, 2025, at 17:09 ET), https://apnews.com/article/jimmy-kimmel-show-suspended-charlie-kirk-ae43c600bd0f2a4c7d3c12077e91b211.
[16] See Folkenflik, supra note 9.
[17] Id.
[18] Id.
[19] U.S. Const. amend. I; see Stone & Volokh, supra note 13.
[20] See Erwin Chemerinsky, The First Amendment 24, 53–54 (3d ed. 2024).
[21] Id. at 24.
[22] See id.
[23] See infra Part II.
[24] See Wagener, supra note 6.
[25] Sen. Ted Cruz Plans to Introduce Bill Codifying Protections Against Government Censorship: WSJ, CBS NEWS (Oct. 15, 2025), https://www.cbsnews.com/video/sen-ted-cruz-plans-to-introduce-bill-codifying-protections-against-government-censorship-wsj/.
[26] See id.
[27] See supra Part II.
[28] See supra Part II.
[29] See supra Part I.
[30] See Chemerinsky et. al., supra note 20.
[31]See supra Part II.
University of Baltimore Law Review 