Karoline Leavitt Takes Dig At Obama While Denying White House ‘Pressure’ To Suspend Jimmy Kimmel

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made a dig at former President Barack Obama on Saturday, denying the White House’s role in ABC’s decision to suspendJimmy Kimmel Live indefinitely. 

Obama wrote Thursday on X: ”After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.”

“This is precisely the kind of government coercion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent – and media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to it,” he said in a follow-up post. 

Leavitt told Fox News’ Saturday in America host Kayleigh McEnany that “with all due respect to former President Obama, he has no idea what he’s talking about.” 

The late-night talk show was pulled off the air indefinitely following massive backlash from conservatives who took offence to comments made about MAGA’s reaction to podcaster Charlie Kirk’s fatal shooting during Monday night’s monologue. 

Kimmel’s abrupt suspension came amid licensing threats from Trump FCC Chair Brendan Carr and was immediately celebrated by President Donald Trump. 

This was not the first time Carr had threatened ABC. He previously launched a formal review into ABC as well as the network’s corporate parent and supported Trump’s lawsuit against the network and CBS, which resulted in a $16 million settlement from both parent companies, NPR reported.

ABC’s decision sparked a wave of concerns and criticism over the administration’s influence on free speech rights. 

Christopher Anders, the director of the democracy and technology division at the ACLU, called Kimmel’s suspension “beyond McCarthyism.”

“Trump officials are repeatedly abusing their power to stop ideas they don’t like, deciding who can speak, write, and even joke,” Anders said. “The Trump administration’s actions, paired with ABC’s capitulation, represent a grave threat to our First Amendment freedoms.”

However, Leavitt denied any White House pressure during her appearance on McEnany’s show.

“The decision to fire Jimmy Kimmel and to cancel his show came from executives at ABC,” Leavitt said. “That has now been reported and I can assure you it did not come from the White House, and there was no pressure given from the president of the United States.” 

Leavitt went on to say she was the one who broke the news to Trump during his visit to the United Kingdom.

“It was a decision that was made by ABC because Jimmy Kimmel chose to knowingly lie to his audience on his program about the death of a highly respected man when our country is in a state of mourning,” Leavitt said. “That was a decision that he made, and he is now facing a consequence for that decision and for that lie.”

She doubled down on her defense of the White House, saying Kimmel’s Emmy-winning show’s ratings were “in the gutter” and that Trump is “pleased” with ABC’s decision.