Jimmy Kimmel, host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” was pulled off the air on Wednesday, Sept. 17, by ABC Network due to his commentary regarding the shooting of Charlie Kirk. ABC was fearful because the Federal Communication Commissions (FCC) chair, Brandan Carr, made a statement on Benny Johnson’s podcast, “The Benny Show,” suggesting that the agency could take action against the network. The late-night host has since been allowed back on air, and his first show was on Tuesday, Sept. 23.
Kirk, a conservative activist, was shot and killed on Wednesday, Sept. 10, at Utah Valley University during his American Comeback Tour, a debate and speaking series by Turning Point USA – a non-profit founded in 2012 by Kirk and Bill Montgomery that supports conservatives on school campuses nationwide.
ABC’s decision to remove Kimmel sparked a political conversation regarding the First Amendment right to free speech.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who killed [Kirk] as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said in the monologue that got him canceled.
He then continued by showing a video of President Donald Trump being questioned outside of the White House; the reporter asked how Trump was personally handling Kirk’s assassination.
“I think very good,” Trump said before talking about the upcoming renovations for the White House ballroom. It then cut back to Kimmel saying, “He’s at the fourth stage of grief: construction.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), released an open letter signed by over 400 celebrities on Monday, Sept. 22 – the day before Kimmel’s return.
“The silencing of [Kimmel] and jawboning of media outlets through lawsuits and threats to their licenses evoke dark memories of the 1950s,” said Anthony D. Romero, the executive director of the ACLU, to NPR.
During Kimmel’s first show back, he opened by saying, “As I was saying before I was interrupted … If you’re just joining us, we are preempting a regularly scheduled encore episode of ‘Celebrity Family Feud’ to bring you this special report.” He thanked those who reached out to him, highlighting other late-night hosts like Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers and Stephen Colbert.
He acknowledged popular conservative figures like Candace Owens and Ted Cruz for standing up for free speech, even when they do not necessarily agree with Kimmel. He went on to talk about how his Monday night monologue was never intended, “to make light of the murder of a young man,” and that this incident has shown him the importance of free speech in America and how the current Trump administration is endangering that right. “That’s something I’m embarrassed to say I took for granted until they pulled my friend [Colbert] off the air and tried to coerce the affiliates who run our show in the cities that you live in to take my show off the air,” Kimmel said. “That’s not legal, that’s not American, that is un-American and it’s so dangerous.”
According to the Economic Times, Disney lost $5 billion in market value over the decision to pull Kimmel off the air. Since then, Disney has implemented an increase in prices to Disney+ accounts starting October 21, with a $2 increase to the plan with ads and a $3 increase to the ad-free tier.
This situation shows an increasing friction between entertainment, politics and corporate responsibility. Though Kimmel is back on air, this case leaves questions for how large networks will balance their corporate interests, audience trust and respect for free speech in a polarized growing media landscape.
