Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic frontrunner in the race for New York City mayor, is pulling out of an upcoming town hall on WABC-TV.
Mamdani said he is pulling out of the event in response to ABC’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel over comments Kimmel made after the killing of Charlie Kirk.
The event was to take place on Sept. 25.
“We simply cannot accept any capitulation to Donald Trump’s attacks on our fundamental freedoms,” Mamdani said. “Now is the time for leadership that fights back with action, and collectively, we must use every tool at our disposal to send a message to Washington and corporate powers alike: our freedom to speech is not a bargaining chip.”
amNewYork was first to report Mamdani’s plan to pull out of the town hall, which has been confirmed by CBS News.
President Trump has previously suggested revoking TV broadcast licenses for networks that cover him negatively.
“They give me only bad publicity or press,” Mr. Trump said while returning from his recent state visit to the United Kingdom. “I mean, they’re getting a license. I would think maybe their license should be taken away. It will be up to Brendan Carr.”
Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, previously said that ABC should take action on Kimmel, suggesting if they don’t there would be “additional work for the FCC ahead.”
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said.
The FCC is an independent agency which issues licenses to broadcast stations.
Carr’s move drew criticism from Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
“I gotta say, that’s right out of ‘Goodfellas.’ That’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar, going, ‘nice bar you have here, it’d be a shame if something happened to it,'” Cruz said.
Cruz warned that the FCC chair’s approach could set a “dangerous” precedent.
“If the government gets in the business of saying, … ‘we’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like,’ that will end up bad for conservatives,” Cruz said.
“Let me tell you what will happen: Going down this road, there will come a time when a Democrat wins again, wins the White House,” he added. “They will silence us, they will use this power, and they will use it ruthlessly. And that is dangerous.”
Over the weekend, people gathered in Times Square for a free speech rally to denounce ABC’s suspension of Kimmel.
Check back soon for more on this developing story.
Kathryn Watson
contributed to this report.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/zohran-mamdani-wabc-tv-appearance-jimmy-kimmel/
