Pritzker calls ABC’s Kimmel suspension an ‘attack on free speech’

CHICAGO, Ill. (WTVO) — In a Wednesday interview, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called ABC’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel for remarks about Charlie Kirk’s death “an attack on free speech.”

“This is what were seeing across the board from the Trump Administration,” Pritzker said during an interview on MSNBC’s ‘The Briefing with Jen Pskai.’ “They’re using the power of the government to go after businesses to get them to do things that they need or want, either to pay them, as we’ve seen, or fire them, as we’ve seen.”

Pritzker also mentioned CBS’s decision to cancel “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert.

On X, Pritzker said, the “attack on free speech cannot be allowed to stand. A free and democratic society cannot silence comedians because the President doesn’t like what they say.”

Rep. John Cabello (R-Machesney Park) responded to Pritzker, writing, “Oh my god JB. Give it up. You’re the worst governor in Illinois history. You unleashed 64 murderers early and now you have the nerve to lecture us about free speech. Your Springfield Democrats stifle Republicans all the time. Your record is blood on the streets not leadership.”

ABC made a decision to suspend “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on Wednesday after criticism from FCC chair Brendan Carr and TV station groups Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcasting.

The decision came after Kimmel suggested that Tyler Robinson, the suspect in Kirk’s assassination, may have held pro-Trump beliefs.

Earlier in the day, Carr called Kimmel’s comments “truly sick” and said the FCC had a strong case for holding Kimmel, ABC, and parent company Walt Disney Co. accountable for spreading misinformation.

Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray declined to say Tuesday whether Robinson targeted Kirk for his anti-transgender views. Kirk was shot while taking a question that touched on mass shootings and transgender people.

Robinson’s mother told investigators that their son had turned left politically in the last year and became more supportive of gay and transgender rights after dating someone who is transgender, Gray said.

Those decisions prompted several conversations in the household, especially between Robinson and his father. They had different political views and Robinson told his partner in a text that his dad had become a “diehard MAGA” since Trump was elected.

Utah’s Department of Public Safety Commissioner, Beau Mason added that the family’s views “differed quite significantly,” and the conversations were at times controversial between parents and son.