(The Center Square) — Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City Zohran Mamdani says he will attend a town hall debate hosted by an ABC affiliate station, after a short-lived protest over its parent company’s decision to pull the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show.
Mamdani, a Queens assemblyman who holds a double-digit lead over other competitors in the race, announced early Monday that he won’t be participating in Wednesday’s WABC-TV Town Hall “in an act of protest against the Trump administration’s dangerous crackdowns on free expression.”
“I am withdrawing not as an indictment of the local affiliate or the hardworking journalists, but rather in response to the corporate leaders who have put their bottom line ahead of their responsibility in upholding the freedom of the press,” Mamdani said in a statement.
The self-declared Democratic Socialist also criticized what he called “cowardice” by ABC and its parent companies, Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair. He also blasted “so-called leaders like Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams” for “looking to the White House for their path to their future ambition.”
“The message that it sends to each and every American across this country is a message that the First Amendment is no longer a right that can be counted on, but rather that it is the government which will determine what should and should not be discussed, what can and cannot be spoken,” Mamdani said.
But the network announced Monday afternoon that Kimmel’s show will resume next week, and Mamdani said that evening that he has reached out to ABC to reschedule the town hall.
“Last week, Disney/ABC caved to Trump administration pressure. Millions of Americans helped them find their backbone,” he posted on social media. “Whether you watch Jimmy Kimmel or not, today’s decision is a victory for free speech.”
ABC pulled the plug on Kimmel on Wednesday, only hours after Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr threatened the network and its stations over comments that the late-night host made earlier in the week about the assassination of conservative commentator Brendan Kirk.
The network’s decision triggered a backlash over its potential impact on free speech rights, with Democrats, left-leaning groups and even some Republicans complaining of corporate capitulation in the face of Trump administration threats.
Mamdani is currently leading polls in a crowded race featuring incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, both running as Independent candidates, and Curtis Sliwa on the Republican ticket.
He has been endorsed by some of the state’s top Democrats, including Gov. Kathy Hochul and State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, but others have been slow to throw their support behind the front-runner in the mayoral race, who has been criticized for some of his left-wing proposals, including free college, bus service and city-owned grocery stores.
Despite widespread media coverage of Mamdani’s short-lived protest, it drew little criticism from his political rivals in an otherwise busy Monday news cycle.
Cuomo’s campaign manager Rich Azzopardi ridiculed Mandani’s decision to pull out of the town hall in a series of social media posts that accused his campaign of “refusing to talk to local reporters because of the actions of their parent company.”
