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Alarming.
As a humorist for over 40 years, I am very upset.
Last night, ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s show after pressure from the FCC. Apparently it was over comments he made about Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer, but I do believe Trump’s people were looking for something to cancel him. It was only a matter of time.
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Immediately after Kirk’s murder last week, Kimmel wrote on social media his sympathies to Kirk’s family and expressed outrage over the violence. Here are the words Kimmel said during his Monday night show on September 15th, that supposedly prompted the suspension by ABC:
"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."
Brendan Carr, the chairman of the FCC, had seemingly threatened ABC, Disney and Kimmel over his monologue about Kirk during a YouTube episode of commentator and right wing influencer Benny Johnson's show on Sept. 17.
"This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Carr said. "Disney needs to see some change here, but the individual licensed stations that are taking their content, it's time for them to step up and say this, you know, garbage to the extent that that's what comes down the pipe in the future isn't something that we think serves the needs of our local communities. There's calls for Kimmel to be fired. I think you could certainly see a path forward for suspension over this."
He said, “we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the F.C.C. ahead. There's actions we can take on licensed broadcasters. And frankly, I think that it’s really sort of past time that a lot of these licensed broadcasters themselves push back on Comcast and Disney and say…'We're not gonna run Kimmel anymore...because we licensed broadcasters are running the possibility of fines or license revocation from the FCC.'"
As I see it, his comments were “understood” to be coming at Trump’s directive, so affiliates caved. Following Carr's comments, Nexstar Media Group Inc. said it would stop airing the show on its 32 ABC affiliates. Then ABC indefinetly suspended his show. In an interview on Wednesday, Carr said Kimmel’s remarks were a “concerted effort to lie to the American people.”
He’s a humorist. It’s not lying, he and all comics are about observing behavior, of the administration, and, frankly of all of us. Commentary which Kimmel —and Colbert and Stewart and Oliver and Meyers, Sykes and so many —do beautifully.
Who’s next? This is outrageous.
My head is spinning as to how this can be pushed back on. I’d like to see a wealthy person start a network and bring on Colbert and Kimmel. Not a comedy-only network, because then it would be siloed. A new network that values free speech.
I want to further understand how the FCC really works. Media reporter Brian Stelter said on CNN last night that it is very difficult to take away a license. Carr is only the chairman of the FCC, he doesn’t run the FCC.
Senator Chuck Schumer also appeared on CNN last night, said that this is what we see from the playbook of Chinese and Russian leaders, and continued,
“Trump and his allies seem to want to shut down speech that they don’t like to hear. That is not what democracies do. That is what autocracies do. And it doesn’t matter whether you agree with Kimmel or not, he has the right to free speech. Everybody across the political spectrum should be speaking out to stop what’s happening to Jimmy Kimmel.”
In turn, Carr appeared on Fox’s Hannity show and said,
“I’m very glad to see that America’s broadcasters are standing up to serve the interests of their community. We don’t just have this progressive foie gras coming out from New York and Hollywood.”
He added: “This is an important turning point.”
From the Guardian: California governor Gavin Newsom called the firing of commentators and cancelling of shows “coordinated” and “dangerous.” He went on to say that the Republican party “does not believe in free speech. They are censoring you in real time.”
Senator Chris Murphy said it was likely the start of a campaign to “use the murder of Charlie Kirk as a pretext to use the power of the White House to wipe out Trump’s critics and his political opponents”, while Democratic politician Ro Khanna said “this is perhaps the first administration to make comedy illegal”.
Comedian and actor Wanda Sykes said in a video that Trump “didn’t end the Ukraine War or solve Gaza within his first week, but he did end freedom of speech within his first year. Hey, for those of you who pray, now’s the time to do it. Love you, Jimmy.”
Comedic actress Jean Smart wrote that she was “horrified” by the decision. “What Jimmy said was FREE speech, not hate speech. People seem to only want to protect free speech when it suits THEIR agenda,” she wrote on Instagram. “Though I didn’t agree at ALL with Charlie Kirk; his shooting death sickened me; and should have sickened any decent human being. What is happening to our country?”
Indeed. What is happening? I’ve tried to write about what’s happening here on Seeing Things; this particular outrage hits close to home. I have been a humor creator all my life and it cannot be taken away from us. This ourtrageous second firing of a mainstream, popular, powerful comedic voice might galvanize something to happen.
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Thanks for being here, everyone. I have a full day working with the team finishing our documentary I directed and produced, Women Laughing. Stay tuned very soon for info on where the film can be seen this fall. We have exciting news.
We need laughter.
I end on a positive note. THis is wonderful and much needed: