Gov. Janet Mills joined fellow Democrats in criticizing ABC’s suspension of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel under pressure from affiliates and federal regulators, calling it “a terrible affront” to free speech.
The governor’s comments came at the Common Ground Fair in Unity. Mills is keeping an aggressive schedule of public events while moving toward running against U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican whose race will be one of the most hotly contested on the 2026 map.
Kimmel was sidelined from the show he has hosted since 2003 on Wednesday after comments earlier in the week on the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. At one point, the comedian said President Donald Trump and his supporters were trying to politicize the killing and compared Trump’s grief to “how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish.”
The fallout was swift. ABC’s move came after Nexstar Communications Group, which owns 28 ABC affiliates, said its stations would not air Kimmel’s show because his Kirk remarks were offensive. Nexstar is seeking the approval of the Federal Communications Commission to buy Tegna, a smaller company that owns several ABC affiliates and two NBC ones in Maine.
Disney, ABC’s parent, also needs FCC approval for ESPN’s purchase of the NFL Network. While the commission has no formal power over the networks, Brendan Carr, the Trump-aligned chairman, said Kimmel was misleading viewers about the ideology of Kirk’s shooter and the FCC may have to intervene if Disney and others did not act on Kimmel.
After Kirk’s shooting last week, Mills said she was “horrified” by the incident and condemned political violence. On Friday, she said she was a fan of Kimmel and CBS counterpart Stephen Colbert, who have drawn Trump’s ire as some of his most outspoken critics on TV.
She called it “a terrible affront to our right to free speech” and blamed the decisions on “mega-corporations” that want to merge and grow stronger.
“I think it’s insane to squash free speech on the basis of corporate greed and on the basis of somebody having said something that offended the president,” she said in Unity.
Colbert is also losing his show next year after CBS announced plans to end his “Late Night” franchise. The late-night portion of the TV industry was once dominant but struggled with plummeting ratings over the past decade during the rise of streaming services.
“Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done,” Trump wrote on the Truth Social media site.
Both Mills and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat from Maine’s 1st District, have criticized Kimmel’s firing. Collins and other members of the state’s congressional delegation did not weigh in.
The 77-year-old governor is national Democrats’ top choice to run against the five-term senator in 2026. But there is already a large primary field in place led by oyster farmer Graham Platner of Sullivan, political operative Jordan Wood of Bristol and Maine Beer Co. co-founder Dan Kleban of Cumberland.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
