Disturbing Kimmel suspension reflects a problem bigger than censorship | Opinion
Jimmy Kimmel is the latest cancel culture casualty of the Charlie Kirk mourning period. His sin is a vague and poorly considered monologue that led many to the reasonable interpretation that he was blaming MAGA for the homicide.
“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,” the comedian said.
Within minutes of Kimmel’s remarks, he was the target of a social media mob braying for his head. Within hours, executives at ABC affiliate owners Nexstar (which owns FOX4 WDAF in Kansas City) and Sinclair were meeting about plans to take him off the air on their stations. Before their considerations were over, Trump-appointed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr said the agency that regulates over-the-air television stations wanted Kimmel canceled. Disney-owned ABC then caved, putting Kimmel’s show on indefinite hiatus effective immediately.
ABC’s swift move was no surprise, as Carr has a significant cudgel to enforce his will over broadcasters. In addition to supervision of broadcast licenses critical to the companies, his agency has authority over Nexstar’s $6.2 billion merger with another TV-station group called TEGNA, which will create a 265-station, 44-state broadcasting colossus.
Soon after, President Donald Trump chimed in with a Truth Social post saying that the rest of the late-night comedians on broadcast TV should be canceled, too. Carr saluted his orders telling CNBC, “We’re not done.”
That fracas is disturbing for several reasons. The most obvious is that comedians shouldn’t be worried about government censorship. The FCC has clearly targeted Kimmel for his political beliefs, and threatening to use government power to punish disfavored expression is a violation of the very First Amendment all those social media posters used to call for Kimmel’s head in the first place.
What is more disturbing is how quickly much of the right rallied behind Carr and his censorious threats. There’s a saying among online far-right folks that goes something like this: “I can play by the old rules. I like the old rules. What I won’t do is play by the old rules while you play by the new rules.”
That’s their excuse for following left-wing cancel culture outrages with their own cancel culture purges. It is their excuse for following the Biden administration and other Democrats’ trampling of the First Amendment with even more outrageous demolition of the once-sacred principle.
They are not making up the Democrats’ sins. The Biden administration went to the Supreme Court to defend its use of government pressure to silence social media dissenters’ alleged COVID-19 disinformation. Biden won only on a technicality. Not long after that, the Democratic Attorney General of New York, Latisha James, failed in her brazen attempt to use corruption laws to silence the National Rifle Association.
Gov. Cox: Killer’s views left-wing
But as disturbing as government censorship and conservatives’ betrayal of what they once considered high principle are, I think it is worth spending a little time on Kimmel’s words that got us here in the first place.
While it is true, that Kirk’s alleged killer was raised in a family of Republicans, like many kids he had drifted away from his family’s values. According to Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and the charging documents that came out after Monday’s monologue, the killer’s political views were increasingly left-wing; he targeted Kirk because the regular campus speaker was spreading “hate.” According to Cox, the killer was allegedly in a romantic relationship with his transgender roommate, and Kirk was saying politically incorrect things about transgender issues. There is little reason to doubt Cox, who has been a voice of calm and reason throughout last week’s dramatic events.
Calling Kirk’s killer “MAGA” is 180 degrees opposite of the truth. Moreover, the only way someone could have believed that is if they were cocooned in a far-left filter bubble immune to the facts that had been dribbling out for days before Kimmel uttered the fateful and false accusation.
While Kimmel is on suspension, ABC and Disney might want to look into how and why their star was so disconnected from half of his potential audience and whether that might have something to do with his dismal ratings, a problem that has plagued similar shows on broadcast TV.
Trump supporters might also ask themselves if they want this expanding and terrifying government power to be used on them. As the New York Times’ Ross Douthat put it: “The woke were warned their tools could be turned against them but couldn’t imagine history’s arc bending rightward. … Now populists facing the same warning keep implying no future censorious left could exceed what we’ve had already.”
They sure will. And so the cycle will go unless the great disconnect between institutions of elite opinion and the values of the half of America who elected Trump is healed. That’s one of the problems that will remain even after Trump is gone. Responsible corporate leaders, like those at ABC, should make bridging that gap among their highest priorities.
David Mastio is a national columnist for McClatchy and the Kansas City Star.
This story was originally published September 19, 2025 at 5:08 AM.
