The sudden suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, after its titular host addressed the right's efforts to "score political points" in the wake of Charlie Kirk's murder, is nothing short of chilling, exactly the kind of escalatory event that Stephen Colbert's cancellation portended. If you're just tuning in, here's a brief ticktock of what went down.
On Monday, Kimmel, a frequent Trump critic, made the following remarks in his opening monologue:
"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."
That pissed off the right, including Brendan Carr, chair of the Federal Communications Commission. Soon after, Nexstar, the company that owns a bunch of ABC affiliates around the country, announced that it would stop airing Kimmel. As the New York Times points out, "Nexstar recently announced that it planned to acquire a rival company in a $6.2 billion deal," which the FCC will eventually review. On Wednesday, ABC announced that it was suspending Kimmel's show "indefinitely."
It's difficult to see this as anything other than an egregious attack on free speech, one that will reverberate far beyond television. And the folks in charge, like JD Vance? They're absolutely relishing it.
I'll leave you with my thoughts in the wake of Colbert's cancellation—and what it all means for the culture we consume:
Though Trump's second term has already produced a string of stunning capitulations by some of the most powerful forces in the country, one could argue that Trump’s attacks had yet to take down our actual culture. I’m talking about the literal content we consume—the television, art, movies, literature, music—no matter how much Trump complained. That it remained protected and free-willed, a rare area of control for a public that otherwise feels powerless to take action. Clearly, that was magical thinking. If this can happen to Colbert and a storied franchise, this can happen to anyone.
—Inae Oh
