NEW YORK (AP) — Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension from late night time will not be the primary time a TV host has confronted pushback or punishment for his or her on-air feedback or off-air actions.
Profession fabrications, romances, racial discussions, conflicts of curiosity, slurs, lewd language and sexual assault: TV hosts have confronted profession repercussions or pushback for the entire above. However the cancellation of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” amid their hosts’ vocal anti-Trump stances has these days put the highlight on humor and free speech.
Late night time TV speak reveals have drifted deeper into politics for the reason that days when Johnny Carson dominated the airwaves. Kimmel, Colbert, Jon Stewart, Invoice Maher, Greg Gutfeld and John Oliver have all leaned closely on political satire to attract laughs.
It was one thing Carson warned about in a 1979 interview with “60 Minutes.”
“Why do they think just because you have a ‘Tonight Show’ that you must deal in serious issues?” he requested. “It’s a danger. It’s a real danger once you start that. You start to get that self-important feeling that what you say has great import. And you know, strangely enough, you could use that show as a forum. You could sway people, and I don’t think you should as an entertainer.”
Jay Leno, certainly one of Carson’s successors, says he additionally tries to avoid partisanship in an interview this yr with The Ronald Reagan Presidential Basis.
“I like to bring people into the big picture,” Leno mentioned. “I don’t understand why you would alienate one particular group,” including: “I don’t think anybody wants to hear a lecture.”
Kimmel’s suspension Wednesday got here after the host’s on-air feedback about Charlie Kirk’s killing. His case is simply the newest when a TV host has discovered themselves in controversy.
On-air feedback
Brian Williams had been NBC Information’ prime anchor from 2004 till 2015, when he was suspended for falsely claiming that he had been in a helicopter hit by enemy hearth in the course of the Iraq Conflict. A subsequent investigation discovered that he had made different inaccurate statements about his experiences overlaying occasions, and he misplaced the job. He was later given the 11 p.m. hour at MSNBC.
In 2021, Sharon Osbourne was fired from CBS’ “The Talk” after a heated on-air dialogue about racism and Megyn Kelly was fired from her NBC morning present in 2018 after triggering a furor by suggesting it was OK for white individuals to put on blackface at Halloween.
“What is racist? You do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface for Halloween, or a Black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween. Back when I was a kid, that was OK just as long as you were dressing as a character,” Kelly mentioned. The subsequent day, she apologized to viewers on air, saying, “I want to begin with two words: “I’m sorry.” The present was canceled by the tip of the week.
In 2023, CNN fired host Don Lemon somewhat over two months after he apologized for on-air feedback about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley being previous her prime. Lemon issued a press release the identical day saying he regretted his “inartful and irrelevant” feedback.
Sizzling mic
Former “Today” host Billy Bush was fired in 2016 after he was caught on tape in a vulgar dialog about girls with then -Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump earlier than an “Access Hollywood” look.
Bush was suspended on the morning present two days after contents of the 2005 tape had been reported. On the tape, Bush is heard laughing as Trump talks about fame enabling him to grope and attempt to have intercourse with girls not his spouse.
Romantic relationship
In 2023, T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach, anchors on the afternoon extension of ABC’s “Good Morning America,” left the community after their romance was reported.
The pair had been taken off the air and positioned on non permanent hiatus after pictures surfaced of them holding arms and spending time collectively. Each had been married to different individuals on the time however had separated. “We all agreed it’s best for everyone that they move on from ABC News,” an ABC Information spokesperson mentioned in a press release.
Off-air feedback
Alec Baldwin’s MSNBC once-a-week speak present “Up Late With Alec Baldwin” was suspended after which canceled in 2013 after he made a homosexual slur in a confrontation with journalists.
Baldwin was captured on video utilizing the vulgarity whereas leaving his Manhattan residence. Initially he denied utilizing the slur, however after widespread criticism he conceded in a Twitter message that he had: “I apologize and will retire it from my vocabulary,” he mentioned. His present had lasted simply 5 episodes.
Off-air conduct
“Today” present host Matt Lauer was fired in 2017 for what NBC referred to as “inappropriate sexual behavior” with a colleague and was accused of crude and recurring misconduct with different girls across the workplace.
NBC mentioned on the time that “Lauer’s conduct was appalling, horrific and reprehensible.”
Lauer was one of many greatest names introduced down by the #MeToo motion. That very same yr, CBS additionally fired host Charlie Rose after a number of girls who labored for him complained about his habits. Rose apologized for his actions and settled a subsequent lawsuit that included the plaintiffs stating they assigned no “ill intent” to Rose and notice now that his conduct might be topic to interpretation.
In Britain in 2015, the BBC dropped Jeremy Clarkson after the “Top Gear” host was accountable for an “unprovoked physical and verbal attack” that left a colleague bleeding and searching for hospital therapy. Clarkson and his co-hosts Richard Hammond and James Might left and reunited for the same present at Amazon.
Battle of curiosity
CNN fired anchor Chris Cuomo in 2021 after studying the extent about how he assisted his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, because the politician confronted sexual harassment allegations.
New York’s lawyer common launched particulars exhibiting Chris Cuomo was extra concerned than beforehand recognized in serving to to strategize and attain out to different journalists as his brother fought to maintain his job.
As girls got here ahead accusing the governor of sexual harassment, his brother, regardless of being a CNN anchor, pressed sources for info on the accusers and reported again to the governor’s employees on what he was studying and was energetic in serving to craft their response to the costs, based on emails and a transcript of his testimony to investigators working for state Lawyer Basic Letitia James.
