Jimmy Kimmel Fails the Charlie Kirk Test

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ABC Pulls Jimmy Kimmel Off Air

Last night, ABC suddenly announced that Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show would be indefinitely suspended following “outcry” over “controversial” comments he made about Charlie Kirk’s murder on air.

You can view the comments made by Kimmel below. Its a short bit, but what stands out is that he notably does not actually say anything negative about Kirk himself, but instead mocks Trump’s own reaction to Kirk’s murder.

In the background of all of this, a major owner of ABC stations called Nexstar has a pending merger with another company called Tegna, in a deal worth a whopping $6.2 billion.

The final roadblock before the merger can move forward is… drumroll….approval by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and their chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee. Fairly quickly, Nexstar announced that they would stop airing Kimmel on their affiliate stations as a result of his comments.

In the lead-up to Kimmel’s suspension yesterday, Carr publicly claimed Kimmel’s comments were “misleading” the American public on “one of the most significant political events we’ve had in a long time”.

This is not the first time this year this situation has played out.

Back in July, CBS News’ parent company Paramount settled a lawsuit with Trump for $16 million.

Trump had filed a $10 billion dollar lawsuit centered on CBS airing two different portions of Kamala Harris's interview response to a question about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—a longer, 21-second clip aired in a "Face the Nation" preview, while a shorter, more focused 7-second part of the same answer aired on the actual "60 Minutes" episode. Trump's legal team claimed this editing constituted "news distortion”.

Now, totally coincidentally at the time of the settlement, CBS’s parent company Paramount was attempting to finalize an $8.4 billion deal with Skydance. Which, again, needs sign off from the FCC and Brendan Carr.

To be crystal clear: it sure looks like Trump is using the FCC’s regulatory leverage in major media business transactions to remove comedians, political commentators, and journalists who criticize this administration. 

Charlie Kirk’s murder, a truly reprehensible act of political violence, is now being used like some 1950s McCarthyism era litmus test.

The message seemingly being sent: if you do not “grieve” or condemn the assassination of Kirk properly, the Trump admin will use its leverage to go after you for what it views as “wrong speak”.

The irony in all of this? Charlie Kirk was actually a strong advocate of free speech and our First Amendment rights. Now, his own assassination is being used by our political institutions to silence others.

In related news, Trump just filed a $15 billion lawsuit against the New York Times.