Leftists' Free Speech Hypocrisy Accelerates the #NationalDivorce
Charlie Kirk and Jimmie Kimmel Are NOT the Same!
Charlie Kirk and Jimmie Kimmel Are NOT the Same!
The extent to which government pressure caused ABC’s decision last week to pull its late-night show Jimmy Kimmel Live! remains unclear. The backlash from Kimmel’s monologue on the Monday broadcast, during which the host deliberately misled his audience about the political orientation of Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, may well have subsumed the show without government intervention.
But Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr intervened in any event, threatening the use of regulatory action, a practice known as “jaw-boning,” if action wasn’t taken to remove Kimmel. Speaking on right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson’s show, Carr warned ABC, saying, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
The unnecessary threat
The comment justifiably raised alarm among free speech advocates who viewed it as a government effort to silence opinions it doesn’t like. This included Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who characterized Carr’s comment as sounding as if it had been spoken by “a mafioso.”
Hours later, ABC announced the indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, leading many to believe that Carr’s “threat” had directly influenced the network’s decision.
The television executives responsible for the decision denied this, however…