ABC’s bombshell decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel‘s late-night show set the legacy media and establishment Democrats into a tailspin on Wednesday evening. They framed the move as a capitulation to a bullying Trump administration.
MSNBC prime-time host Chris Hayes tweeted ominously, “The countries where comedians can’t mock the leader on late-night TV are not really ones you want to live in.”
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CNN’s Brian Stelter, appearing on Anderson Cooper 360, called the move an example of “Orbanism.”
“In Hungary, Victor Orban did many of the things we’re now seeing the Trump administration do,” he said. “He weakened public broadcasting. He muzzled independent media through autocratic carrots and sticks. And he incentivized the owners to fall in line. And that’s what we’re seeing in America today.”
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) portrayed the firing as an assault on free speech.
“America is meant to be a bastion of free speech,” he said. “Everybody across the political spectrum should be speaking out to stop what’s happening to Jimmy Kimmel. This is about protecting democracy.”
But none of this hysteria grappled with the heart of the matter: On Tuesday evening, Kimmel lied to his audience regarding the political identity of Tyler Robinson, Charlie Kirk‘s suspected assassin, labeling him as “MAGA” when that is objectively false.
One week following Kirk’s death, every major news outlet now (finally) correctly reports that Robinson was motivated by left-wing ideology. The evidence is overwhelming, from the left-wing messages Robinson engraved on the bullet casings, the post-shooting text with his romantic partner, where he cites Kirk’s “hate” as being the motive, and the comments his parents made to authorities regarding his leftward drift over the previous year, particularly related to a pro-trans worldview.
Despite all of this information being readily available, Kimmel deliberately misinformed his approximately two million viewers, saying in his opening monologue:
“The MAGA Gang (is) desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
During this moment of profound civil unrest, this is simply unacceptable. ABC’s decision to can Kimmel for this irresponsible statement is laudable. The nation is a tinderbox right now, and this feels like a necessary step toward de-escalation.
To be sure, FCC Chair Brendan Carr exerted pressure on ABC here, as he has over the company’s DEI policies and its biased moderation during last year’s presidential debate. Concerns over the extent to which the government pressures media companies over speech are valid.
But this sudden concern is especially relevant in light of the Biden administration’s storied efforts to pressure tech companies to adhere to its policy on “misinformation.” The legacy media’s complicity during Biden’s reign paved the way for future free speech crackdowns.
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There’s also the matter of Nexstar, which owns and operates numerous local television stations affiliated with ABC. Nexstar potentially curries favor with the administration because it needs FCC approval for a large acquisition of Tegna. But the Kimmel firing is an entirely separate issue, a self-inflicted wound by a comic desperate for attention and relevance. Kimmel made his own bed. Carr and Nexstar may well have ulterior motivations, but that fact remains unchanged.
Kimmel’s cancelation isn’t ‘cancel culture,’ and neither are any of the firings related to progressive ghouls cheering Kirk’s death. It’s consequence culture. And it’s about time accountability became a two-way street.