CNN’s Brian Stelter Argues Jimmy Kimmel ‘Has All the Power’ in Latest Spat With Trump Admin

CNN’s Brian Stelter on Tuesday explained why he viewed Jimmy Kimmel as having “all the power” in his latest feud with President Donald Trump.

Kimmel once again drew the ire of the Trump administration over a joke about the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Last week, Kimmel provided his own version of the monologue traditionally given by the host of the dinner. During this monologue, he joked that Melania Trump had a “glow like an expectant widow.”

Two days after that joke aired, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner abruptly ended when 31-year-old Cole Thomas Allen attempted to storm the ballroom and open fire. Allen’s plan was thwarted when he was apprehended by police.

Although the joke came before the shooting, the clip didn’t go viral until after it. In the wake of the shooting, numerous Trump officials — including the president himself — called for ABC to fire Kimmel. Melania referred to the joke as “hateful and violent rhetoric” in her own statement.

On Monday night’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, Kimmel appeared unfazed by the wave of backlash. He explained that the joke was not a call for violence as many claimed, insisting that he was merely poking fun at Trump’s advanced age.

Speaking to CNN anchor John Berman on Tuesday morning, Stelter claimed that Disney was “absolutely standing by Kimmel,” saying:

My indication, you know, Disney is being tight-lipped about this, so on the record, nobody there is saying anything about Kimmel. But my sense talking with sources, making calls overnight, is that Disney is absolutely standing by Kimmel, and you can see that because he was on everyone’s television sets last night. But more importantly, behind the scenes there have also been signals to Kimmel and to his team that the company is with him, that the company is not wavering, that the company is not going to try to knuckle or maybe cower in the face of Trump’s pressure.

That stance, Stelter continued, was a stark contrast from the last feud with the Trump administration that resulted in Kimmel’s suspension:

The reason he was yanked from the airwaves back then was, in part, due to local stations with cozy ties to the Trump administration that yanked Kimmel’s show locally. The big difference in this case, John, is that those station group owners, Nexstar and Sinclair, they haven’t done a thing. They haven’t said a word. I think they learned last time that it was a mistake to pull Kimmel, and so they’re not doing it this time. So we’re seeing a big difference in the power dynamics here. Frankly, John, Kimmel has all the power this time.

Watch above via CNN

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!