Former US President Barack Obama has criticised the Trump administration for using its regulatory power to silence media critical of it. Obama’s comment comes in the wake of Disney-owned ABC indefinitely taking late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel off air, over his remarks criticizing MAGA and Trump, following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last week.Trump-appointed Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman, Brendan Carr, is accused of strong-arming ABC into cancelling Jimmy Kimmel Live.‘Trump administration taking cancel culture to dangerous level’In a social media post on Friday, Obama said Republicans who used to complain about ‘cancel culture’ are now doing the same, but on a new and dangerous level.“After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like,” Obama said.The former two-term US President also pointed out that the Trump administration’s actions are in violation of the First Amendment rights.“This is precisely the kind of government coercion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent — and media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to it,” he said. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Barack Obama (@barackobama)Violation of First Amendment: ACLUOthers, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have also accused the Trump administration and Carr of First Amendment violation.“Trump officials are repeatedly abusing their power to stop ideas they don’t like, deciding who can speak, write, and even joke. The Trump administration’s actions, paired with ABC’s capitulation, represent a grave threat to our First Amendment freedoms,” the ACLU said in a statement.Story continues below this ad Asher Rogers holds an image of Jimmy Kimmel outside El Capitan Entertainment Centre. (Photo: AP)Ted Cruz compares Carr to Mafia BoseEven Republican Senator Ted Cruz was critical of Carr and compared the FCC Chief to an organized crime figure.FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s threats to impose fines or pull licenses over host Jimmy Kimmel’s comments about Charlie Kirk’s assassination were dangerous, Cruz, who was once a close ally of Trump, said.“He says we can do this the easy way (or) we can do this the hard way…. I’ve got to say that’s right out of ‘Goodfellas.’ That’s right out of a Mafioso coming into a bar, going, ‘Nice bar you have here. It would be a shame if something happened to it.'”What did Jimmy Kimmel sayKimmel, who had been hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC since 2003, landed in trouble with Republicans and MAGA for his monologue on Monday in which the comedian said Kirk’s allies were using the onstage murder of the 31-year-old activist last week to “score political points.” Kimmel also mocked Trump for turning a question about his grief for Kirk into a cheerful promotion for his planned White House ballroom.Story continues below this ad“This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend,” Kimmel said. “This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.” Jimmy Kimmel speaks at the Oscars in Los Angeles in 2017. (Photo: AP/ File)This, however, did not go down well with many Republicans, who demanded that Kimmel apologise.Many local stations also said that they would not carry Kimmel’s show on their network, ultimately forcing ABC to pull the show off air, indefinitely.