(The Center Square) — Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, has pulled out of a planned town hall debate by an ABC affiliate over the network’s decision to pull the Jimmy Kimmel Live show.
Mamdani, a Queens assemblyman with a double-digit lead over other competitors in the race, announced 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 “so-called leaders like Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams looking to the White House for their path to their future ambition.” There was no immediate comment from the network or its parent companies, Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair.
“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.
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.
“Nexstar strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets,” Nexstar said in a statement.
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 that features incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, both running as Independent candidates, as well as 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.
