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Savewith a NBCUniversal ProfileCreate your free profile or log in to save this articleOct. 5, 2025, 8:48 AM EDTBy Megan Lebowitz and Alexandra MarquezWASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a Sunday interview on “Meet the Press” that ongoing negotiations between Hamas and Israel are not yet the end of the war and that setting up a group to govern Gaza “takes some time,” but emphasized that there was a plan to do so. It comes as Israel and Hamas appear to be inching closer to implementing a 20-point peace plan proposed by President Donald Trump. “Everyone has agreed, including Israel, that eventually, at some point here, as this process plays out, Gaza will be governed by a Palestinian technocratic group that’s not Hamas, that are not terrorists, with the help and the assistance and the guidance of an international consortium like the board of peace,” Rubio said, echoing the language of the proposed peace plan. At the same time, Rubio noted that “you can’t set up a governance structure in Gaza that’s not Hamas in three days.””I mean, it takes some time,” he said.The peace plan stipulates that Gaza would “be governed under the temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee.” The plan also provides that Hamas, which had governed Gaza, would not have any role in governing in the future. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly backed the peace plan, which includes the release of all Israeli hostages by Hamas, during a visit to the White House last week.Hamas has expressed willingness to release all hostages, alive or dead, and plans to send a team on Sunday to Cairo, where more in-depth negotiations are slated to begin on Monday. Trump administration special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, plan to attend on behalf of the U.S.Palestinians mourn the death of loved ones killed in Israeli strikes, outside al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Oct. 1. Bashar Taleb / AFP – Getty ImagesAsked by moderator Kristen Welker whether the peace negotiations mark the end of the war in Gaza, Rubio said “not yet.””There’s some work that remains to be done,” he said, pointing to ongoing meetings to determine the logistics of implementing a peace plan. The parties now need to determine first, how hostages are released, and second, how to create new Palestinian leadership. Palestinians watch smoke billowing during Israeli strikes at the Gaza Strip on Oct. 1,. Bashar Taleb / AFP – Getty Images”How do you create this Palestinian technocratic leadership that’s not Hamas, that’s not terrorists, and with the help of the international community?” Rubio said, laying out ongoing issues. “How do you disarm any sort of terrorist groups that are going to be building tunnels and conducting attacks against Israel?”There are ongoing talks to determine logistically how hostages could be released, he said. “You have to make sure the Red Cross can get there, what time they’re going to be there, where they’re going to be,” Rubio said. “All that has to be worked through.”Asked whether hostages could be released as early as this week, Rubio said, “We want it to be as soon as possible.”Megan LebowitzMegan Lebowitz is a politics reporter for NBC News.Alexandra MarquezAlexandra Marquez is a politics reporter for NBC News.

- Latest News - October 5, 2025

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that ongoing negotiations between Hamas and Israel are not yet the end of the war

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Savewith a NBCUniversal ProfileCreate your free profile or log in to save this articleOct. 5, 2025, 8:28 AM EDTBy Dennis Romero”Saturday Night Live” returned after its 50th anniversary season by mocking President Donald Trump’s administration and also making a little fun of itself. Puerto Rican musical sensation Bad Bunny returned to hosting duties amid conservative outcry at his selection as the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show performer.The cold open took viewers to Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s meeting Tuesday with senior military officers from across the globe at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia.Hegseth, played by “Weekend Update” co-host Colin Jost, was introduced by a colleague saying, “You will now be yelled at by a former Fox News host.”Jost’s Hegseth criticized the nation’s military branches for being out of shape. “Our military will now have the same rules as any good frat party: No fat chicks. And if you’re a fat dude, goddamn it you better be funny as hell,” he said.Trump, reprised by James Austin Johnson, said he showed up to the sketch to supervise the show.”I’m just here keeping my eye on ‘SNL,’ making sure they don’t say anything too mean about me,” he said, a seeming reference to Jimmy Kimmel’s briefly being taken off the air.Noting last season’s 50th anniversary celebrations, Johnson’s Trump said, “They should have called it at 50, right? So sad to see something get old and confused, and yet still demand your constant attention.”The 51st season, he said, was “off to a rough start.””Seventeen new cast members and they got the ‘Update’ guy doing the cold open,” Trump said.The night’s host, Bad Bunny, addressed the controversy over his scheduled performance at the 2026 Super Bowl.”I’m very happy and I think everyone is happy about it, even Fox News,” he said during the show’s opening monologue. The line was followed by a quick cut of Fox News hosts and commentators each saying one word that, in a sentence, stated, “He should be the next president.”Bad Bunny’s scheduled halftime performance has drawn the attention of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He is a U.S. citizen. Some right-wing commentators have criticized the NFL’s halftime curation by noting Bad Bunny performs predominantly in Spanish, the country’s second most-spoken language.The performer, who recently wrapped up a residency in Puerto Rico, chose not to include U.S. locations for this concert tour this year, explaining in September that he feared they would draw immigration agents.Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said Friday on a podcast that ICE agents would be “all over” the Super Bowl, scheduled for Feb. 8 in Santa Clara, California.During the monologue, Bad Bunny included some words in Spanish on his choice as halftime performer, words he dedicated to “all the Latinos and Latinas in the entire world and here in the United States.””More than being an accomplishment of mine, it’s an accomplishment for everybody, demonstrating that our mark and our contribution to this country will never be able to be removed or erased by anybody,” he said in Spanish.He added, in English, “If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn.”Bad Bunny’s hosting duties Saturday marked a milestone for the show. He helped “SNL” wrap its 50th season by appearing as its musical guest, and NBC said it was the first time an artist had been billed on the last show of a full season and the first show of the next.NBC said Bad Bunny first appeared on “SNL” in a Kenan Thompson sketch about baseball legend David Ortiz in 2020 before performing music on the show the next year.The artist also connected with global K-pop fans. A sketch about friends catching up at a restaurant after years apart featured a surprise cameo from some of the singing stars of “KPop Demon Hunters,” the hit animated Netflix movie about a K-Pop group who are undercover demon hunters. They performed part of their song “Golden,” which has topped Billboard charts for 11 weeks.“It’s actually not for kids,” he says of the trio. “It’s for smart adults.””SNL” had big shoes to fill after that 50th season, which included an anniversary special, a docuseries on the show’s history and a look back at its musical guests throughout the years.For Season 51, “SNL” welcomed five new performers with comedic or improvisational comedy background: Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson, Veronika Slowikowska, and Ben Marshall, an “SNL” writer for three seasons and member of comedy group Please Don’t Destroy.Several cast members did not return for the new season, including Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner, Devon Walker, Michael Longfellow and Emil Wakim.Doja Cat made her debut as an “SNL” musical guest. The show also featured Hollywood heavy-hitters Jon Hamm and Benicio del Toro.Hamm (or, as Bad Bunny put it, “Juan Jamón”) showed up as a Bad Bunny fan and later as Profesor Jirafales in a parody of the classic Mexican comedy series “El Chavo del Ocho.”Del Toro made a cameo in a sketch set in 900 A.D. about the origins of Spanish, asking, “What if we made it harder to learn?”He also suggested the letter “R” should last “a long time,” and said, “I think we should take a nap in the middle of the day.”“SNL” airs on NBC, a division of NBCUniversal, which is also the parent company of NBC News.Dennis RomeroDennis Romero is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.

- Latest News - October 5, 2025

“Saturday Night Live” returned after its 50th anniversary season by mocking President Donald Trump’s administration and also making a little fun of itself.

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Oct. 5, 2025, 7:00 AM EDTBy Brooke SopelsaThe most commonly banned books in U.S. schools include LGBTQ titles, international bestsellers, teen romantasy novels and a 1962 classic, according to a new report that compares modern-day censorship to Cold War-era McCarthyism.More than 6,800 book bans were enacted during the 2024-25 school year in 87 public school districts across 23 states, according to a report released Wednesday by PEN America, a nonprofit that advocates for free expression. The report was released ahead of Banned Books Week, which starts Sunday.“Censorship pressures have expanded and escalated,” Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America’s Freedom to Read program, said in a news release. “A disturbing ‘everyday banning’ and normalization of censorship has worsened and spread over the last four years.”The organization’s annual “Banned in the USA” report says the current environment of “unfettered book banning is reminiscent of the Red Scare of the 1950s.” It defines a school book ban as “any action taken against a book based on its content and as a result of parent or community challenges, administrative decisions, or in response to direct or threatened action by governmental officials” that leads to the book being removed or restricted.The latest report found that 3,752 unique titles were affected by bans in the school year that ended in June. The most banned titles included “A Clockwork Orange” and “Wicked,” while the most banned authors included Stephen King, Sarah J. Maas and Jodi Picoult. More than 80% of all bans originated in just three states: Florida, Texas and Tennessee.This past school year saw fewer total bans than in 2023-24, at more than 10,000, though the number is far above where it was in 2021-22 (more than 2,500 bans), when PEN America first started to compile an annual report. Since July 2021, PEN America has tracked 22,810 book bans across 45 states.One reason the total number of book bans may have dipped this year is that some titles are being pre-emptively taken off the shelves.“This functions as a form of ‘obeying in advance’ to anticipated restrictions from the state or administrative authorities, rooted in fear or simply a desire to avoid topics that might be deemed controversial,” the report states. Another potential reason, as author Malinda Lo pointed out, is that previously banned titles have not returned to shelves. Lo, whose book “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” was No. 4 on PEN America’s new list, said on Instagram that her 2021 novel made the cut “partly because all of the usual titles like ‘Gender Queer’ have already been banned and removed.”“Once a book is banned, it’s gone,” she wrote on Wednesday. “This is why we have to keep fighting these attacks on our first amendment rights.”“Gender Queer,” a graphic memoir that debuted in 2019, was No. 1 on PEN America’s Most Banned Books List in 2022, though it didn’t even make the top 15 on this year’s list.Books with LGBTQ themes and characters — like “Gender Queer” and “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” — are consistently among the most banned books highlighted in the annual reports of PEN America and the American Library Association, and this year is no different.Here are the 15 most banned books this past school year as tracked by PEN America, ranked in order of those banned by the most public school districts across the country:“A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess.W. W. Norton & Company‘A Clockwork Orange’ by Anthony BurgessBurgess’ dystopian satire about a sociopathic, Beethoven-obsessed teen gang leader was banned in 23 districts in the 2024-25 school year. The 1962 novel was adapted into an Oscar-nominated film by Stanley Kubrick in 1971 and was named one of Time’s 100 best English-language novels and one of Modern Library’s 100 Best Novels.“Breathless” by Jennifer Niven.Knopf Books for Young Readers‘Breathless’ by Jennifer NivenNiven’s 2020 novel is a coming-of-age love story that was banned in 20 school districts. On her website, the bestselling author describes “Breathless” as “the book I needed when I was sixteen, seventeen, eighteen. A frank take on sex and love, parental divorce, finding yourself, and the importance of writing your story. Of writing your life.”“Sold” by Patricia McCormick.Little, Brown Books for Young Readers‘Sold’ by Patricia McCormickMcCormick’s young-adult novel, about a girl from Nepal who is sold into sexual slavery in India, was banned in 20 school districts in the last school year. This 2006 title was a National Book Award finalist and was on the Publisher’s Weekly Best Books of the Year list and the ALA’s Top Ten Books for Young Adults list.“Last Night at the Telegraph Club” by Malinda Lo.Dutton Books for Young Readers‘Last Night at the Telegraph Club’ by Malinda LoLo’s young-adult historical novel about love and duty in 1950s San Francisco was banned in 19 school districts in the 2024-25 school year. The critically acclaimed 2021 novel won a long list of awards, including a National Book Award, Stonewall Book Award and Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature.“A Court of Mist and Fury” by Sarah J. Maas.Bloomsbury Publishing‘A Court of Mist and Fury’ by Sarah J. MaasThis bestselling adult romantasy novel, which was banned in 18 districts in the 2024-25 school year, is the second book in Maas’ wildly popular “A Court of Thorns and Roses” series. Maas, the only author with more than one title on this top 15 list, also has the distinction of being one of the most banned authors this year, with 162 total bans, behind only Stephen King and “Crank” author Ellen Hopkins.“Crank” by Ellen Hopkins.Margaret K. McElderry Books‘Crank’ by Ellen Hopkins Hopkins’ 2004 young-adult novel was banned in 17 school districts. On her website, the author revealed this bestseller is loosely based on her “older daughter’s story of addiction to crystal meth.” She said “Crank” began as “a personal exploration of the ‘why’s’ behind my daughter’s decisions, and what part I might have played in them.”“Forever…” by Judy Blume.Atheneum Books for Young Readers‘Forever…’ by Judy BlumeBlume’s award-winning 1975 young-adult novel, which was banned in 17 districts in the last school year, has been a target of censorship for 50 years, according to PEN America. Blume said she wrote the book — which was named one of NPR’s 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels and Time’s 100 Best YA Books of All Time — because her daughter “asked for a story about two nice kids who have sex without either of them having to die.”“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky.MTV Books‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ by Stephen ChboskyChbosky’s 2009 coming-of-age novel about an observant “wallflower” navigating the “strange world between adolescence and adulthood” was banned in 17 school districts in the 2024-25 school year. The No. 1 New York Times bestseller — which deals with topics including first dates, family drama, sex, drugs and suicide — was adapted into a 2012 film starring Logan Lerman, Emma Watson and Ezra Miller.“Wicked” by Gregory Maguire.William Morrow Paperbacks‘Wicked’ by Gregory MaguireThis No. 1 New York Times bestseller, which debuted in 1995 and is a reimagined prequel to “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” was banned in 17 school districts. The story of “Wicked,” however, is perhaps best known due to its adaptation into a Tony-winning Broadway musical and an Oscar-winning musical film starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.“All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson.Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)‘All Boys Aren’t Blue’ by George M. JohnsonJohnson’s 2020 memoir-manifesto about coming of age as a queer Black man was banned in 16 districts in the last school year, and it also topped the ALA’s list of 10 most challenged library books of 2024. In an interview with NBC News last year, Johnson said the real book censorship danger lies in the “soft-banning”: “We can track the books that are being banned, but we can’t track books that are not being ordered.”“A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas.Bloomsbury Publishing‘A Court of Thorns and Roses’ by Sarah J. MaasThe first book in Maas’ internationally bestselling five-book romantasy series was, like the remaining books on this list, banned in 16 school districts. The central character in 2015’s “A Court of Thorns and Roses” is 19-year-old Feyre, a moral huntress who is dragged to a magical land and falls for her immortal captor.“Damsel” by Elana K. Arnold.Clarion Books‘Damsel’ by Elana K. ArnoldThis dark and twisted fairy tale, a 2019 Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book, is, on the surface, about a damsel who is rescued from a dragon by a handsome prince. Prior to “Damsel,” Arnold’s book “What Girls Are Made Of” was a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award in Young People’s Literature.“The DUFF” by Kody Keplinger.Poppy‘The DUFF’ by Kody KeplingerIn Keplinger’s 2010 young-adult novel, 17-year-old Bianca discovers her high school’s “slimy school hottie” has given her an offensive nickname — DUFF, or Designated Ugly Fat Friend — but she still ends up in a “closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship” with him. Keplinger was only 17 herself when she wrote this bestselling book, which was adapted into a 2015 film.“Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Picoult.Atria Books‘Nineteen Minutes’ by Jodi PicoultThis No. 1 New York Times bestseller is about the aftermath of a school shooting in a small New Hampshire town. Published in 2007, this is one of 29 novels written by Picoult, whose other works include “My Sister’s Keeper,” “Small Great Things” and “The Pact.”“Storm and Fury” by Jennifer L. Armentrout.Canary Street Press‘Storm and Fury’ by Jennifer L. ArmentroutArmentrout’s 2019 romantasy novel is the first book in her three-book “Harbinger” series. “Storm and Fury” is centered on 18-year-old Trinity Marrow, who “may be going blind” but “can see and communicate with ghosts and spirits,” according to Armentrout’s website.Brooke SopelsaBrooke Sopelsa is the editorial director of NBC Out, NBC News’ LGBTQ digital destination. 

- Latest News - October 5, 2025

“A Clockwork Orange,” “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” and “Wicked” are among the most banned books of the 2024-2025 school year, according to PEN America.

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Savewith a NBCUniversal ProfileCreate your free profile or log in to save this articleOct. 5, 2025, 5:00 AM EDTBy Alexandra Marquez, Ben Kamisar and Jonathan AllenSome of the internet’s most popular voices with young men — almost all of whom either hosted President Donald Trump or spoke highly of him last November — have some thoughts on what he’s doing wrong.An all-star lineup of podcasters and YouTube impresarios has taken Trump to task in recent months on everything from immigration and Israel to free speech and Jeffrey Epstein. The list includes Joe Rogan, Theo Von, Andrew Schulz and Shawn Ryan, a cast that Trump courted heavily to win access to their audiences during last year’s campaign.Rogan and Von have been particularly critical of the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda, with Rogan calling some deportations “f—–g crazy” and Von questioning why the Department of Homeland Security has posted videos of immigration arrests online.NBC News polling conducted in August and early September found that 33% of U.S. adults ages 18-29 approved of Trump’s handling of deportations and immigration, while 67% disapproved. Among U.S. adults of all ages, a slightly higher share — 43% — approved of the president’s handling of deportations and immigration. Schulz and his co-host, Akaash Singh, have criticized the president for not fulfilling his campaign promises.“Everything [Trump] campaigned on, I believed he wanted to do,” Schulz said in a July episode of his “Flagrant” podcast, where Trump had appeared in October 2024. “And now he’s doing the exact opposite thing of every single f—–g thing. … I voted for none of this. He’s doing the exact opposite of everything I voted for.”In particular, Schulz pointed to Trump’s failure to quickly end wars in Europe and the Middle East, the deficit spending in Trump’s budget, and the president’s deportation campaign.The White House did not return a request for comment.Theo Von slams DHS for using his video in post about deportations03:39While few of the these hosts — who tend to be less overtly political than explicitly conservative activists like the late Charlie Kirk — formally endorsed the president’s campaign, they gave him a platform to talk about sports, politics, technology, comedy and conspiracy theories with millions of viewers and listeners whose attention is usually hard for politicians to command. Republican and Democratic strategists alike have acknowledged that Trump’s willingness to engage with them helped give him a crucial boost in a hard-fought election.The recent disagreements threaten to swallow some of Trump’s support — potentially with the less politically active, harder-to-reach podcast listeners — even if it does not translate into a bigger chunk of the electorate for Democrats. Trump is ineligible to seek re-election, but Republicans hope to keep hold of the new voters who turned out for him as they battle in midterm elections next year and to maintain the presidency in 2028.During recent focus groups of 18-29-year-old Trump voters — observed by NBC News as part of the 2025 Deciders series, produced by Syracuse University and the research firms Engagious and Sago — a handful of voters said that people like Rogan and Von helped to persuade them to vote for Trump.Katelyn R., a 21-year-old Wisconsinite who identifies as a political independent, said during the focus group that Von “led me to vote” for Trump. She added that she had heard Von’s recent criticism of Trump and that she agrees with his “change of their point of view.”And while most members of the focus group said influencers aren’t changing their minds, they did echo similar criticisms in venting frustrations with Trump.“I don’t approve of how certain situations are being handled with deportation,” Katelyn R. added. “The way that these people are being treated don’t align with my Christian values, or my pro-life values, or any of the values that a conservative may have.”Richard B., a 22-year-old Republican from Pennsylvania, said he’s begun to question Trump’s fidelity to his campaign promises.“I feel like the transparency as well is an issue, not just with tariffs, but also feeling like he switched positions when talking about the Epstein files from saying it’s a huge deal to saying that ‘Oh, it’s not really a big deal,’” he said.Despite some cracks in Trump’s coalition of young men, Democrats acknowledge Trump’s continued strength — and their party’s weakness — among young men and the influencers they follow.“One thing I have seen is that there can sometimes be a connection between the fitness world and then getting into some of these podcasts and online spaces that can be very far right,” former Democratic Rep. Colin Allred, a former NFL player who ran for Senate in Texas last year and is running again in 2026, told NBC News. “And as someone who’s had to work out for a living and who still tries to stay in shape, that bothers me, because I know a lot of young men are going there genuinely hoping that they can get some advice on fitness.”“And then there’s a trust that’s built there, and then you can use that trust to then say, ‘Hey, but you should also think about, you know, why are women doing better than you are?’ I think that, to me, is really misleading and makes me a bit upset,” he added.Trump allies say that they are not concerned about differences of opinion among the voters who backed him last November.“President Trump successfully built a very big tent to be the first Republican to win the national popular vote in two decades,” said Nick Trainer, a GOP strategist who was a senior official on Trump’s 2020 campaign. “Inherently in a big tent, there are disagreements.”An NBC News Decision Desk poll powered by SurveyMonkey that was conducted in late August and early September found that 47% of men ages 18-29 “strongly” or “somewhat” approved of Trump’s job in office so far, while 53% of that group “strongly” or “somewhat” disapproved of Trump.Still, disappointment among young men, and the guys they listen to, could rob the GOP of a mechanism for turning out low-propensity voters who favor them.Late last month, Von, host of the popular YouTube show “Last Weekend” and the son of a Nicaraguan immigrant, ripped the Department of Homeland Security for using his image in an ad.“Yooo DHS i didnt approve to be used in this. I know you know my address so send a check,” Von wrote in a since-deleted post on X. “And please take this down and please keep me out of your ‘banger’ deportation videos. When it comes to immigration my thoughts and heart are alot more nuanced than this video allows. Bye!”Von went on to talk about the incident on his show last week, noting that the administration is paying attention to what he’s saying and that it was causing a backlash online.“I woke up the next morning to a text from a high government official saying, ‘Hey, if you need some extra security in your neighborhood, or some extra police cars on patrol, let me know,’” Von said. “And I’m like, ‘What? What are you talking about? Extra security? I don’t even know the code to my Ring camera.’ And then what are you going to do? What, are you just going to put police cars in my neighborhood? What are my neighbors going to think? … That really kind of shook me.”Rogan, who hosted Trump for a three-hour episode of his “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast in October and explicitly endorsed Trump days later, was one of the first podcasters to publicly break with the administration.In March, just two months after Trump was sworn in to his second term, Rogan reviewed several news reports about the U.S. deporting asylum-seekers to countries that they were not from, including one case of a gay makeup artist from Venezuela who was sent to a prison in El Salvador.“If you want compassionate people to be on board with you, you can’t deport gay hairdressers seeking asylum — that’s f—–g crazy — and then throw them in an El Salvador prison,” Rogan said.In July, Rogan again called it “f—–g crazy” that the Trump administration had detained Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk partially because of an editorial she had written calling on her university’s leadership to divest from companies with ties to Israel.Schulz and Von over the summer also broke with Trump over his administration’s moves to downplay the importance of the Epstein files, as well as over the administration’s continued support for Israel as it conducted its offensive in Gaza.“Obviously the intelligence community is trying to cover it up, obviously the Trump administration is trying to cover up,” Schulz said when talking about the Epstein files with his co-hosts in a July episode of “Flagrant.”“He is rebuking the base, like, almost spitting in their face. They are asking for it. He campaigned on it,” Schulz added.Meanwhile, Von’s May comments calling Israel’s attacks on Gaza a “genocide” garnered millions of views.A few weeks later, Von hosted Vice President JD Vance on his show and told him directly that the videos he was seeing from Gaza were “the sickest thing” and that “where it gets scary is that we give, you know, we’re complicit in it because we help fund, like, military stuff.”“Sometimes it feels like we look out for the interest of Israel before we look out for the interest of America,” Von added.The criticism from hosts hit a fever pitch in September when the president celebrated Disney’s decision to suspend late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel for remarks he made in the wake of Kirk’s assassination.“I definitely don’t think that the government should be involved ever in dictating what a comedian can or cannot say in a monologue. That’s f—–g crazy,” he said.He added that “people on the right” who were celebrating Disney’s decision were “crazy for supporting this, because this will be used on you.”Singh, the co-host of “Flagrant,” also denounced the move, saying that it was “a big attack on free speech” and criticizing conservative activists for celebrating Kimmel’s suspension.“I think we’ve been pretty staunchly in favor of free speech. And it is funny to watch right-wing people just become left-wing people. … If you agree with this, that’s some snowflake s—,” Singh added.Alexandra MarquezAlexandra Marquez is a politics reporter for NBC News.Ben KamisarBen Kamisar is a national political reporter for NBC NewsJonathan AllenJonathan Allen is a senior national politics reporter for NBC News.

- Latest News - October 5, 2025

Some of the internet’s most popular voices with young men — almost all of whom either hosted Trump or spoke highly — have some thoughts on what he’s doing wrong.

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