Every time Karoline Leavitt tries to defend her boss, Donald Trump, things backfire big time. Netizens often accuse her of lying on camera as she fiercely faces the media that is ready to rip the administration apart. Adding to the list of such embarrassing instances, Leavitt has once again received backlash after she criticized Barack Obama over his views on the Jimmy Kimmel scandal.
Chaos erupted this month when ABC fired late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel for his comments on Charlie Kirk’s death. His suspension was met with heavy criticism and scrutiny, as most people speculated that Trump pressured the channel to take the big step.
Even former President Barack Obama slammed the current administration for the ‘dangerous’ censorship. On September 18, he wrote 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.”
In a follow-up tweet, he added, “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.”
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. https://t.co/gOjqFnGv0I
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) September 18, 2025
To shield Donald Trump from accusations of censorship, Leavitt attempted to dismiss Obama’s stance. During an interview on Fox News on Saturday, Leavitt proclaimed, “With all due respect to former President Obama, he has no idea what he’s talking about.”
She claimed that the decision to fire Jimmy Kimmel came from the ABC executives, and the White House played no role in it. She thinks that since Trump wasn’t in the US physically when Jimmy was fired, he had nothing to do with it.
She added, “I actually brought this news to President Trump’s attention. He had no idea this was happening. 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.”
Though Leavitt confidently said that Trump wasn’t behind Kimmel’s suspension, nobody’s buying it! Slamming the White House Press Secretary, an X user replied, “I can’t imagine having a job where the sole purpose is to lie constantly.”
I can’t imagine having a job where the sole purpose is to lie constantly. 🤦🏼♀️
— Lisa (@Limare64) September 20, 2025
“After ABC was told their licenses would be pulled if they didn’t,” an X user countered Leavitt’s statement. Another wrote, “That is a lie!! @FoxNews do you have a single set of balls between all of you?? Trump hates Kimmel. Trumps @FCC pressured @Disney @ABC to suspend Kimmel.”
Karoline Leavitt’s statements backfired because Trump’s hatred for Kimmel is well known to the world. He hinted about Kimmel’s firing months ago on social media when Stephen Colbert’s contract was terminated.
“I absolutely love that Colbert’s got fired. His talent was even lesser than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert,” he wrote on Truth Social.
In another post, he called Kimmel a ‘loser’ and publicly asked the channel to pull the plug on him.
Left: Trump after Colbert is fired, threatening “Jimmy Kimmel is next”
Right: Trump after Kimmel is fired, threatening “Jimmy and Seth” and pressuring NBC to “do it” pic.twitter.com/HChV0Qqehy
— FactPost (@factpostnews) September 18, 2025
Now, in a twist of events, Jimmy is back, and Trump isn’t happy! In his social media rant, he somehow also hinted at his involvement in Kimmel’s removal in the first place.
Trump wrote, “The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled!”
Now, why would a channel inform the government about a comedian’s firing unless the government is an interested party?
Anyway, Trump further wrote in his post, “He is yet another arm of the DNC and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major Illegal Campaign Contribution. I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative. A true bunch of losers!”
If this isn’t called threat and coercion, what else is?
