Washington, DC—After Jimmy Kimmel’s late night comedy show cancellation it seemed like the country fell to a new low for First Amendment and press freedoms. It was a moment remarkably similar to the McCarthy era of the early 1950s when politicians leveraged power to intimidate those who disagreed with them.
Disney’s decision to axe the popular show was a corporate decision made after FCC chairman Brendan Carr pressured ABC to cancel it. ABC announced it would “indefinitely” preempt the Kimmel show from its scheduled programming as the result of comments he made during his opening monologue. Disney owns ABC outright and is the parent company of other media companies such as Pixar, Marvel, and Hulu. It has majority ownership of ESPN and owns many brands such as the Muppets and Winnie the Pooh. Under Bob Iger it has become a media giant.
The chain of events leading to Kimmel’s cancellation and the public reaction can best be described as a mega media showdown. And it could not have been a more important historical moment for First Amendment and press freedoms, as the President’s attacks against those rights nearly obliterated them.
Disney’s decision to cancel the popular comedy show was not itself a First Amendment issue as it was a corporate decision. But taken with FCC Chairman Carr’s pressure on the media company to cancel its license, it could be argued that it was that pressure against First Amendment rights for Kimmel’s criticism of the president.
The trigger to the cancellation was Kimmel’s opening monologue comments about the shooting of Charlie Kirk on September 15, “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 with everything they can to score political points from it.”
In Kimmel’s defense, on September 10, he posted on a social media platform, “Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human? On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.”
But with the rapidly changing pace of news and the short attention span of consumers, it may as well have been something he said decades ago. His consolation remarks were lost with the erupting word war over the airwaves.
As a result, on Wednesday, September 17, an ABC spokesman announced it had ”preemped indefinitely” Jimmy Kimmel Live, completing what FCC Chairman pressured ABC to do. Taking a broadcast license would have taken years to accomplish through court actions and appeals and ABC could have prevailed in a suit based on the First Amendment.
It was another chink in the armor in an 8-month-long campaign to stifle dissent by intimidating universities, law firms, media companies, newspapers, journalists, and anyone or any organization that did not fall into line or spoke out against Trump’s policies.
Then the people weighed in on Jimmy Kimmel’s behalf. Call it a last-second Hail Mary Pass, an Immaculate Reception, or the Fourth Force, but it was just in time because Jimmy’s fate was up to this point sealed along with the hundreds of others losing their jobs or facing lawsuits over the last two weeks. The fury of the people spread like wildfire across two of the last venues people have left to express their discontent over losing basic rights: social media and purchasing power. And they turned their rage onto social media and encouraged others to vote with their keyboards and cancel their Disney+ subscriptions. They posted screenshots of their Disney+ cancellations online. And it worked.
There’s no way of knowing how many cancellations Disney chalked up, but at one point their website crashed due to the volume of customers walking away from their Disney+ channel. Many others said online that they would also boycott Disney theme parks.
This resulted in Disney deciding to reinstate Jimmy Kimmel Live after a day of “reflective consultations” with the late night host.
On Tuesday night, September 23, Kimmel was back on. And the people rejoiced in his return. He had amassed 6.2 million broadcast viewers and 16 million views on YouTube for his return monologue, a record. During his monologue he said that Trump’s threat against ABC and the media was “un-American.” His voice broke as he spoke of Charlie Kirk and his family’s pain and that his comments were not ridicule of the Turning Points Founder’s slaying.
This issue played out quickly in just under 2 weeks but it brings up an important issue of where real power is derived within a republic. It demonstrates how collectively powerful the people are even within the chaos of oppression. It demonstrates how powerful they can be if they align against stolen rights as an authoritarian regime takes over their republic.
This was not the first time Trump and his regime went after media outlets and personalities for saying what he disapproved of. He had sued NBC, ABC, even the conservative Wall Street Journal.
But this time the people had the final say.
A review of the timeline of these historic events shows how quickly it played out.
Timeline of events.
September 10: Turning Points Founder Charlie Kirk is shot during a public media event with college students at Utah Valley University. Graphic footage is immediately released on social media. He is rushed to a hospital and pronounced dead later that day. Another clip of video surfaced showing what was thought to be a person running across a nearby roof. Pixelated photos are released by law enforcement of a man in a stairwell. Trump orders flags over federal buildings lowered to half staff until sunset on September 14.
September 11: Media backlash begins to build as both admirers and critics comment on social media about the killing. The FBI reports a suspect has been caught but later retracts their report. President Trump blames the “radical left” for the killing before the shooter(s) is/are known. Many Republican and Democratic leaders denounce the killing. MSMBC news anchor Matthew Dowd was fired for on-air comments he made about Charlie Kirk.
September 12: A young man and alleged shooter surrenders to local sheriff authorities and is subsequently identified by the FBI as Tyler Robinson. The FBI leaves out the alleged shooter’s middle name in this initial report. Reporting a common first and last name as a suspect in a high profile case and leaving out a middle name is irregular police practice. His full name is later released, Tyler James Robinson.
September 13: Trump blames the “Radical Left” for the killing. Many people begin losing their jobs for posting their opinions online as a campaign to go after such posts is generated on a website.
September 15: Jimmy Kimmel comments about Charlie Kirk in his opening monologue. He ties in President Trump’s reaction to the killing when asked by press outside the White House. On the same day, Washington Post opinion columnist Karen Attiah is fired for posting a Charlie Kirk quote online and giving her opinion on the matter. She was the only Black female columnist left at the newspaper and had been working there 10 years.
September 17: Disney cancels Jimmy Kimmel Live. Disney and Hulu subscribers begin posting screenshots of their canceled subscriptions on social media with hashtags CancelDisneyPlus and CancelHulu.
September 19: Reports begin circulating that Disney’s subscription website had crashed due to the heavy traffic.
September 21: A memorial is held in honor of Charlie Kirk and is aired on most major media channels including MSNBC, a left-leaning channel.
September 23: Jimmy Kimmel Live returned to its regular program on ABC. Excited guests chanted “Jimmy!, Jimmy!, Jimmy!” as he walked onto the stage to begin the “most anticipated monologue in history.” He choked back tears as he explained that he did not intend to make fun of the shooting and death of a young man and said his intent was the opposite. He castigated FCC Chairman Brendan Carr for his role in scrutinizing media companies over their content not favorable to Trump.
Sinclair owned ABC stations opted not to air Jimmy Kimmel Live and the comedy show remained absent from ABC station WJLA in Washington DC.
UPDATE: Sinclair agreed to air Jimmy Kimmel Live! beginning on Friday night, September 26 following pressure from ABC, advertisers, and a campaign from consumers requesting the show be aired.
Jimmy Kimmel declined to make a donation to Turning Points in consideration of getting back on the air.
