The other day I hopped on Google to see whatever happened to that guy who used to host “Win Ben Stein’s Money,” and boy oh boy, things are not looking good for our nation.
Yes, Jimmy Kimmel, host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC, has had his TV show “indefinitely suspended” by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). (NOTE: Shortly before I submitted this column, ABC owner Disney relented and announced Kimmel would return to the airwaves on Sept. 23. This, however, does not change the point of the column.) So what did Kimmel say that provoked the wrath of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr?
On Sept. 15, in his opening monologue regarding the shooting death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, Kimmel said the following:
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said. “In between the finger-pointing, the White House flew the flag at half-staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level, you can see how hard the president was taking this.”
Kimmel then cut to a clip of President Donald Trump being interviewed by a reporter outside the White House just days after Kirk was killed. When the reporter asked how Trump was holding up following the murder, Trump said “I think very good” before immediately jumping to the topic of the renovations being done to the White House ballroom.
This is what was deemed too offensive for Kimmel to continue airing his show.
First off, Kimmel definitely isn’t making light of Kirk’s death in this clip; if anything, by pointing out that a large portion of the outpouring of grief seems performative, he’s suggesting the shooting should be taken more seriously.
Is it offensive to make that observation? Wherever you fall on it, Kimmel’s not wrong. Just look at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service that took place this past weekend, which Trump somehow made about himself and the axes he has to grind with his many enemies in a display that even the late Richard Nixon would have described as “a bit much.”
But whether you agree with Kimmel’s sentiment or not, the fact remains that Kimmel’s First Amendment rights were violated.
“But wait!” some say. “Roseanne Barr was kicked off her show for her political commentary! It’s the same situation!”
These two situations are wildly different in an important way. It’s true that ABC cancelled Roseanne’s titular show after she tweeted a racist joke, but ABC made the call of their own volition. While they probably felt some pressure from advertisers and viewers, they did not receive pressure from the United States government, and that’s an important distinction. The First Amendment states that the government cannot infringe upon religion, free speech, freedom of the press, or the right of the people to peaceably assemble.
Before Kimmel’s Sept. 15 show, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr made some comments about Kimmel that can only be read as a threat.
“Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Carr was essentially saying that if Kimmel didn’t fall in line with the official government talking points, he would pull ABC’s license. On top of that, after CBS announced weeks earlier that it was cancelling The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Trump took to Truth Social to call for Kimmel to be the next late night host fired for insufficient fealty. And after Kimmel’s show was suspended, Trump had this to say:
“Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done,” Trump wrote. “Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy (Fallon) and Seth (Meyers), two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!”
It’s one thing for a show to get cancelled or suspended because the host said something offensive and the network is concerned advertisers will pull their support. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences.
However, it’s another thing entirely when a show is cancelled or suspended because the United States government is threatening the network. That is a deeply concerning precedent and absolutely in violation of the First Amendment.
But hey, you don’t have to take my word for it. A whole lot of folks agree with me.
Take Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. In the aftermath of Kimmel’s firing, Cruz said he was thrilled that Kimmel was fired and said that Carr was “a good guy,” but he also said this:
“But what (Carr) said there is dangerous as hell,” Cruz said. “He says we can do this the easy way, or we could do this the hard way, yeah. And I 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’d be a shame if something happened to it.”
Added Cruz, “I think it is unbelievably dangerous for government to put itself in the position of saying, ‘We’re going to decide what speech we like and what we don’t, and we’re going to threaten to take you off air if we don’t like what you’re saying.’ And it might feel good right now to threaten Jimmy Kimmel, but when it is used to silence every conservative in America, we will regret it.”
Who else agrees with me? How about conservative commentator Tucker Carlson. After U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi floated the idea of using the Department of Justice to target anyone who spoke ill of Kirk, Carlson spoke out against the Trump administration using Kirk’s murder as an excuse to crush civil liberties.
“You hope that a year from now, the turmoil we’re seeing in the aftermath of (Kirk’s) murder won’t be leveraged to bring hate speech laws to this country,” Carlson said. “And trust me, if it is, if that does happen, there is never a more justified moment for civil disobedience that that, ever. Because if they can tell you what to say, they’re telling you what to think. … There is nothing they can’t do to you because they don’t consider you human.”
Chilling! And speaking of chilling, here are a few words from conservative commentator Ben Shapiro.
“The FCC should not be threatening action against ABC or its affiliates or Disney,” Shapiro said. “Social censure is perfectly appropriate. The blowback from the public is totally natural and in fact good because Jimmy Kimmel is in fact a schmuck who should have been taken off the air 10 years ago. … The question is… whether these local affiliates canceled Kimmel because they were upset with Kimmel or whether they canceled Kimmel because they came under pressure from the FCC.”
And, last but not least, here’s what Charlie Kirk himself thought about government censorship:
“Hate speech does not exist legally in America,” Kirk tweeted last year. “There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech. And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment. Keep America free.”
I never thought I’d find myself in agreement with Charlie Kirk, Ben Shapiro, Tucker Carlson, and Ted Cruz, but as the old saying goes, a nation’s rapid slide into authoritarian rule makes strange bedfellows.
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