Agencies Washington

US President Donald Trump has suggested that TV networks which cover him “negatively” could be punished by the government after his celebration of ABC suspending late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.

On Air Force One, the president spoke to reporters on Thursday on his flight back to the US from his state visit to the UK. He said major US networks were “97% against me”, though he did not offer evidence to prove this figure or detail how this conclusion was evaluated. He said he read the statistic “someplace”, The Guardian reported. “Again, 97% negative, and yet I won easily. I won all seven swing states,” Trump said. “They give me only bad press. I mean they’re getting a licence. I would think maybe their licences should be taken away.”

His claim that US TV networks need to be licenced by the government to operate is, however, incorrect. While local TV stations do require a licence from the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC says clearly on its website that it does “not licence TV or radio networks (such as CBS, NBC, ABC or Fox)”. Trump supported ABC’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show, saying that the comedian was “not a talented person” who “had very bad ratings”.

According to Nielsen ratings as reported by LateNighter, although Stephen Colbert’s Late Show leads the time slot in total viewers with 2.42 million, Kimmel’s show averaged 1.77 million viewers in the second quarter of 2025 and edged out Colbert in the key 18-49 demographic. However, there was an 11% drop-off in his show’s viewership the last month. Kimmel also has over 20 million subscribers on YouTube.