Right here slightly one thing everybody ought to find out about free speech:
It’s not at all times free.
Late night time TV host Jimmy Kimmel simply discovered that out the laborious approach final week after ABC took him off the air over remarks he made about President Trump and his MAGA followers within the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination.
Within the days since Kirk’s homicide, and the arrest of his alleged murderer, a number of excessive profile pundits have been fired for controversial feedback they made about Kirk, 31, a loyal Trump affiliate and a key Conservative youth organizer.
However Kimmel mentioned nothing disparaging about Kirk.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang 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,” Kimmel mentioned throughout his monologue.
He additionally poked enjoyable at Trump after the president talked in regards to the White Home ballroom after answering a query about how he was dealing with Kirk’s demise.
“This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend,” Kimmel mentioned. “This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish.”
Proper-wing activist Charlie Kirk (R) speaks on stage with President Donald Trump at America Fest 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona, on December 22, 2024. (Photograph by JOSH EDELSON/AFP by way of Getty Pictures)
Earlier than Kimmel may say “Constitution,” he was off the air indefinitely.
ABC didn’t capitulatedto public strain to droop Kimmel. Slightly, ABC reportedly kowtowed to strain from the FCC. That’s the place it will get dicey.
The First Modification is meant to guard free speech from authorities interference. It states:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The Trump administration apparently missed the memo.
“When you have a network and you have evening shows and all they do is hit Trump, that’s all they do,” Trump mentioned aboard Air Pressure One following a state go to to Nice Britain. “They’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that. I would think maybe their license should be taken away,”
Networks like ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox aren’t licensed straight, however they every affiliate with native stations that maintain Federal Communications Fee licenses.
Trump appears to suppose he’s the one president who has been focused by late night time TV hosts.
A Heart for Media and Public Affairs examine mentioned that former Tonight Present host Jay Leno advised 4,000 Invoice Clinton jokes throughout his late night time run.
And don’t get us began on Johnny Carson, who hosted “The Tonight Show” by way of seven presidential administrations.
Amongst Kimmel’s defenders was former President Barack Obama, who warned of the risks of suppressing free speech.
“This commentary offers a clear, powerful statement of why freedom of speech is at the heart of democracy and must be defended, whether the speaker is Charlie Kirk or Jimmy Kimmel, MAGA supporters or MAGA opponents,” Obama wrote in a social media submit.
“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.”
Former U.S. President Barack Obama speaks throughout a marketing campaign occasion for Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, on the James R Hallford Stadium on October 24, 2024 in Clarkston, Georgia. (Photograph by Alex Wong/Getty Pictures)
This was coming from a president who had been the butt of quite a lot of Kimmel jokes.
At a White Home Correspondents Dinner throughout Obama’s first time period, Kimmel teased the Democratic president about the whole lot from the dimensions of Obama’s ears to his weight.
“Mr. President. Remember when the country rallied around you in hopes of a better tomorrow?” Kimmel mentioned. “That was hilarious.”
Obama did what presidents are speculated to do. He laughed.
He didn’t sic the FCC on him.
