Howard Stern blasts ABC suspension of Jimmy Kimmel, cancels Disney+ subscription: ‘Can no longer keep my mouth shut’

Howard Stern longtime friend Jimmy Kimmel — blasting the move as government-backed censorship and warning that broadcasters have “bent the knee” to political intimidation.

“I can no longer keep my mouth shut,” Stern, who said he canceled his subscription to the Disney+ streaming service in protest of the move, declared as he opened his SiriusXM show on Monday.

“I feel obligated to say something, because s–t’s getting outta control.”

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Stern accused ABC of caving to pressure after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr publicly warned Disney over Kimmel’s controversial remarks about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

“This involves the network ABC. They did something really dumb and f–kin’ horrible,” Stern said, before breaking into a fake-out bit about “The Bachelor.”

“Everyone knows what happened with Jimmy Kimmel. The bottom line is you really don’t need my voice to know that something horrible happened at ABC,” Stern said.

Kimmel’s late-night show was pulled indefinitely last week after he linked Kirk’s alleged killer to the MAGA movement. The White House applauded the suspension, with President Trump urging NBC to sideline Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers as well.

“If Howard is sad about Kimmel’s absence on air, he should talk to ABC who made the decision to pull down his unfunny and unpopular show,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson.

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Jackson pushed back on Stern’s insistence that Kimmel was subjected to government censorship.

“This has nothing to do with free speech; low-ratings loser Kimmel is free to make whatever bad jokes he wants, but a private company is under no obligation to lose money producing unpopular shows,” Jackson said in a statement to The Post.

“Kimmel’s ratings have declined over 63 percent since his show moved to its current time slot and he has lost over 43 percent of his audience since President Trump returned to office.”

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Jackson added that “Jimmy Kimmel’s terrible product isn’t a free speech problem; it’s a talent problem.”

For Stern, the decision hit personally.

“I believe Jimmy is such a big talent, and quite frankly so is his wife,” he said, calling Kimmel and wife Molly McNearney “dear dear friends.”

Stern told listeners he was stunned that Disney executives yielded to government threats.

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“I just know when the government begins to interfere … when the government says, ‘I’m not pleased with you, so we’re going to orchestrate a way to silence you,’ it’s the wrong direction for the country. It isn’t good, and I should know.”

In the 1990s, Stern’s raunchy morning show became the nation’s top radio program — and a top target for federal regulators.

Infinity Broadcasting, his syndication partner, was repeatedly fined by the FCC, at one point paying $600,000 in a single case involving racial jokes.

Between 1990 and 2004, fines against Stern’s affiliates totaled more than $2.5 million, the largest indecency tab ever levied against one broadcaster.

Infinity finally agreed to a $1.7 million settlement in 1995 to wipe out dozens of pending cases. Stern called it “the biggest shakedown in history … the bullies have won. I lost. That means we all lost.”

The fines continued. After the 2004 Super Bowl “wardrobe malfunction” involving Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake spurred a new crackdown, Clear Channel yanked Stern’s show from six major markets and paid nearly half a million dollars in penalties tied to his broadcasts.

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The wave of fines and suspensions prompted Stern to quit terrestrial radio altogether and jump to satellite, where the FCC has no jurisdiction.

Freed from regulators, Stern signed a half-billion-dollar deal with Sirius Satellite Radio in 2006. The move cemented him as the most powerful uncensored voice in broadcasting — and a defender of free speech in media.

On Monday, Stern said the current pressure campaign against ABC carried the same hallmarks as the FCC attacks that drove him off the public airwaves.

“They all bent the knee and they all cower,” Stern said of broadcasters and universities who yield to political pressure.

He said he is not calling for boycotts but has canceled his Disney+ subscription to send a message.

“Someone’s got to step up and be f–kin’ saying, ‘Hey, enough, we’re not gonna bow.’”

Stern singled out Carr’s comments as “a threat.”

For Stern, the stakes extend far beyond one network host.

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“It’s about freedom of speech,” he said. “It’s one thing if ABC wanted to fire Jimmy because they didn’t like him, or he had low ratings … They didn’t want to fire him. They’re being pressured by the United States government. We can’t have that, not if we’re gonna have a democracy.”

He closed Monday’s show by warning listeners not to shrug it off.

“Each of us are obligated to be the watchdog for each other’s rights and freedoms … we can’t turn our heads, we can’t pretend this didn’t happen.”

Prior to ABC sidelining Kimmel, Carr had told a right-wing podcast: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way … take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

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That sparked outrage even from Republicans. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who leads the committee overseeing the FCC, said Carr’s words sounded like “a mafioso coming into a bar going, ‘Nice bar you have here. It would be a shame if something happened to it.’”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) called the remarks “absolutely inappropriate” and said Carr had “no business weighing in on this.”

Legal experts noted the FCC has no authority to censor programming content and said Carr’s threat amounted to “jawboning” — an illegal tactic where officials try to strong-arm private entities through regulatory pressure.

Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner also condemned the suspension, calling it “out-of-control intimidation” and questioning the “political or financial self-interest” of executives who yielded to Carr’s warning.

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Nexstar and Sinclair affiliates quickly preempted Kimmel, leaving Disney scrambling to fill the late-night slot. CEO Bob Iger and content chief Dana Walden personally made the call to sideline Kimmel after reviewing his next planned monologue, which insiders feared could escalate tensions.

Disney has offered no timetable for Kimmel’s return. Sources told Bloomberg the hiatus could stretch for weeks as executives gauge the political fallout.

The Post has sought comment from Disney, ABC and the FCC.