New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani said Monday that he withdrew from a local ABC town hall in protest of the network’s decision to suspend late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel[1].
Mamdani blasted the “cowardice” of the network’s parent company, Disney, in its decision to pull “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air indefinitely in the wake of pressure from the Trump administration. The WABC town hall that Mamdani was set to participate in was scheduled for Thursday.
“It is not the government’s job to bully talk show hosts off of the air. It is not the government’s job to tell us what we can and cannot talk about,” Mamdani said at a campaign event on Roosevelt Island in New York City, adding that the message sent by the sequence of events at ABC “is a message that the First Amendment is no longer a right that can be counted on.”
Mamdani referred to “the responsibility that all of us have in this moment to showcase just how unacceptable these kinds of actions are, how unacceptable it is that we are living in a moment where Donald Trump’s actions are the ones which determine whether or not we can enjoy that which we have taken for granted for so many years.”
He added that, “We cannot be free if we are subservient to those who abuse power for their own ends,” taking shots not only at Trump, but his two main competitors in the mayoral election, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Eric Adams.
“We cannot understand this moment of authoritarianism as solely coming from the White House when it is also a moment that is characterized by the cowardice of those in response to it, the cowardice that we have seen typified, whether by the parent company of ABC, or by so-called leaders like Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams.”
Mamdani said he was withdrawing from the town hall event “in response to the corporate leaders who will put their bottom line ahead of their responsibility in upholding the freedom of the press.”
In response to Mamdani’s comments, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson emailed NBC News: “It’s not surprising that the Little Communist is too scared to defend his absurd policy positions on live TV.”
Cuomo campaign spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said that “ABC suspending Kimmel was a big mistake, but refusing to talk to local reporters because of the actions of their parent company shouldn’t pass anyone’s smell test and the press shouldn’t continue to give him a pass.”
Azzopardi accused Mamdani of “running from reporters” in the months since the June primary “and refusing to answer direct questions on” various campaign positions.
Spokespersons for Disney and for the Adams campaign didn’t immediately respond to questions from NBC News about Mamdani’s comments.
Mamdani added that he remained “eager to take questions from the public” and said that he was “committed to taking another town hall in the weeks to come.”
NBC New York is scheduled to host[2] a mayoral debate on Oct. 16.
ABC said last week that it had pulled Kimmel’s show off the air “indefinitely,” citing the late-night host’s comments about the motivations[3] of the man who authorities say fatally shot conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The move came after Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr threatened to “take action” against Disney and ABC over Kimmel’s remarks.
Following Carr’s comments, Nexstar Media Group Inc. announced that the company’s[4] ABC affiliates would pre-empt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for the foreseeable future. Nexstar, which has more than 200 stations in the U.S., is waiting on FCC approval for a $6.2 billion acquisition of the media company Tegna[5].
Kimmel’s suspensions has sparked outrage from Democrats and free speech advocates who say the comedian was punished for saying things the administration disliked.
Mamdani scored an upset victory in the June Democratic mayoral primary over Cuomo, who is continuing his bid as an independent. Adams is also running as an independent.
Rebecca Keegan and Daniel Arkin contributed.
References
- ^ suspend late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel (www.nbcnews.com)
- ^ scheduled to host (www.nycvotes.org)
- ^ “indefinitely,” citing the late-night host’s comments about the motivations (www.nbcnews.com)
- ^ announced that the company’s (www.nexstar.tv)
- ^ a $6.2 billion acquisition of the media company Tegna (www.nexstar.tv)
- ^ Adam Edelman (www.nbcnews.com)