“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Monday night began:

We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it. In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Wednesday replies:

This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.

Whether a veiled threat or direct warning, Nexstar and Sinclair, two of the largest station groups, hours later pulled "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on air since 2003 from its ABC stations with the following statement:

Nexstar’s owned and partner television stations affiliated with the ABC Television Network will preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the foreseeable future beginning with tonight’s show. Nexstar strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets.

Forget that late-night ratings across the second quarter were already dismal: Stephen Colbert 2.42 million; ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! (1.77 million); and NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (1.19 million). ABC quickly followed up by “indefinitely” pulling the plug itself on Kimmel’s $16 million annual salary, and overall $50+ million compensation package.

Though Carr calls Kimmel “sick,” and accuses him of "directly misleading the American public,” US Senator Ted Cruz calls the FCC and Carr’s actions “dangerous as hell. It’s right out of Goodfellas," the Texas Republican says with a mobster's accent.

Disney, ABC's lord and master, has a big proposition in front of the federal government at present. ESPN is acquiring the NFL Network, including the NFL's fantasy football and RedZone products, in exchange for a 10% equity stake in ESPN. The NFL will license certain games and other content to ESPN, which will integrate the NFL Network into its new direct-to-consumer streaming service. The deal is currently non-binding and requires approval from the FCC, NFL owners, and at least a nod from the Trump administration.

Ari Fleischer, a Fox News contributor and former White House press secretary during the Bush administration, predicts the president is involved. “Trump’s FCC could review any merger request, and at minimum insist Disney/ESPN reject all DEI programs and pledge to provide content viewpoint diversity on ABC, ESPN & the NFL Network going forward. Given Trump’s interest in the NFL, and his history of using media mergers for leverage, it’s hard to see him not playing around with this.”

Trump’s otherwise straightforward commercial transactions generally have carefully placed riders which give deals on their face an entirely new meaning. President Trump's Executive Order 14149 "Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship,” was initially directed at federal agencies who coerce social media companies into censoring content. The Chief Executive, notwithstanding.

But was Kimmel’s shtick protected speech? Any conflict between free speech and public interest involves balancing an individual's right to express themselves against the government's remit to protect public welfare. In the U.S., the First Amendment provides strong, but not absolute, protection for speech, particularly speech on public issues. When private speech touches on matters of public concern courts apply tests.

The Supreme Court addressed the issue of government “jawboning” last year in a case brought by the National Rifle Association. Justice Sonia Sotomayor writes for the court.

A government official can share her views freely and criticize particular beliefs, and she can do so forcefully in the hopes of persuading others to follow her lead. What she cannot do, however, is use the power of the State to punish or suppress disfavored expression.

As a business matter, Trump typically runs a cost calculus against his political opponents. “The decision to preempt ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ was made unilaterally by the senior executive team at Nexstar, and they had no communication with the FCC or any government agency prior to making that decision,” says Gary Weitman, Nexstar’s chief communications officer. "Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time.”

Despite Nexstar awaiting FCC approval to acquire competing station group Tegna for $6.2 billion, deputy White House chief of staff Taylor Budowich posts “Welcome to Consequence Culture.” Normal, common sense Americans are no longer taking the bulls, and companies like ABC are finally willing to do the right and reasonable thing.”

“I hate what Jimmy Kimmel said. I am thrilled that he was fired,” says Cruz on Friday. “But if the federal government gets into the business of censoring free speech, it’ll end up bad for conservatives.”

Certainly, private employers have every right to dismiss employees, whether they’re television talk show hosts or otherwise, if and when they run afoul of a company's standards and practices. However, “for 90 years the FCC has promoted diversity of thought and now the Trump, Carr FCC is coming in and saying they’ll be the judge of what those views should be,” says Tom Wheeler, the FCC chair under former President Obama on Friday. “This is not a role for the federal government or the chairman of the FCC to be playing,” “The danger here is authoritarian control of the media.”

During a flight home from the United Kingdom, Trump raised the prospect of revoking network licenses over negative coverage. “They’re 97 percent against; they give me only bad press. I mean, they’re getting a license. I would think maybe their license should be taken away.”

Still, “Kimmel and Disney are working toward reaching a compromise to return to ABC,” according to three insiders. The same three, incidentally, who masterminded a publicity stunt that coincided with goading Cruz into the “Blowfish Basketball Classic;” Kimmel assuming the crown as resident host at the Oscars; and taking the helm of the 20-year franchise “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire." For Hollywood, that's as close as it gets to a Town Hall.