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US president tells reporters on Air Force One 97% of networks are ‘against me’ without evidence; Chuck Schumer says Trump is trying to ‘snuff out free speech’

• Trump gleeful as Jimmy Kimmel talkshow taken off air

• Kimmel suspension sparks shock and fears for free speech

In reaction to the news that Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show has been indefinitely suspended, the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) said that “Trump’s FCC identified speech it did not like and threatened ABC with extreme reprisals. This is state censorship.”

On X, the president of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada, Tino Gagliardi, issued a statement in response to ABC taking Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which employs musicians from the American Federation of Musicians Local 47 in Los Angeles, off the air. In it he said:

This is not complicated: Trump’s FCC identified speech it did not like and theatened ABC with extreme reprisals. This is state censorship. It’s now happening in the United States of America, not some far-off country. It’s happening right here and right now.

This act by the Trump administration represents a direct attack on free speech and artistic expression. These are fundamental rights that we must protect in a free society. The American Federation of Musicians strongly condemns the decision to take Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air.

As a Guild, we stand united in opposition to anyone who uses their power and influence to silence the voices of writers, or anyone who speaks in dissent. If free speech applied only to ideas we like, we needn’t have bothered to write it into the constitution. What we have signed on to – painful as it may be at times – is the freeing agreement to disagree.”

Democracy thrives when diverse points of view are expressed.

The decision to suspend airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! is the type of suppression and retaliation that endangers everyone’s freedoms. Sag-Aftra stands with all media artists and defends their right to express their diverse points of view, and everyone’s right to hear them.

Keir Starmer and Donald Trump held a press conference at Chequers on Thursday, on the second day of Trump's state visit. The UK and US leaders were quizzed over the recognition of a Palestinian state and on immigration and energy, on which they had differing viewpoints

• Trump turns fire on Putin and lauds UK in press conference with Starmer

Keir Starmer and Donald Trump held a press conference at Chequers on Thursday, on the second day of Trump's state visit. The UK and US leaders were quizzed over the recognition of a Palestinian state, immigration and energy, on which they had differing viewpoints

• Trump turns fire on Putin and lauds UK in press conference with Starmer

Critics say ‘authoritarianism isn’t coming – it’s already here’ amid widespread condemnation of talkshow’s suspension

The indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show has prompted impassioned calls for a boycott against Disney, ABC’s parent company, and other major media conglomerates that have refused to air Kimmel’s show.

Boycott calls grew after ABC announced it would indefinitely suspend the popular show following complaints from Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr. Carr’s complaints stem from Kimmel’s recent monologue in which he addressed the killing of rightwing activist Charlie Kirk by saying: “Many in Maga land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk.”

Trump was in his own Truman show, everyone else satellites to his ego, even the PM, who was just another beta male

It takes all sorts. Standing around under gun-metal skies, watching soldiers isn’t many people’s idea of fun, but world leaders are a different breed. No bit of pageantry and flattery goes unnoticed. So why not give Donald Trump the full Disney treatment he craves? After all, it wasn’t as if he was going to be allowed to stray outside the Windsor Castle compound and it was better than making the king sit indoors and watch Fox News.

But if Wednesday was the softening up – “You’re great, you’re the best, the world would stop without you. We’ve never done anything like this for anyone else” Thursday was very much the business end of the state visit. And the one moment of real danger for the US president and Keir Starmer. The Chequers press conference at which everything could go tits up. The one bit of the trip that wasn’t entirely scripted.

FTC and seven states file lawsuit claiming resellers’ violations of ticket purchasing limits were ignored

The US Federal Trade Commission and seven states accused Live Nation and its ticketing arm Ticketmaster of costing fans millions of dollars by tacitly allowing ticket brokers to scoop concert tickets and sell them to at a significant markup, the agency said on Thursday.

The lawsuit deepens Ticketmaster’s legal woes, which began after its botched 2022 sale of tickets to Swift’s much-hyped Eras tour.