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Liberals were outraged over ABC’s decision to pull “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” as comments made by the namesake host about Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin sparked backlash among conservatives.
Disney, facing mounting pressure from ABC affiliate stations around the country as well as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is being accused of caving to the Trump administration and waving the white flag in the battle over free speech.
“I’m not sure who deserves more disdain and disgust: Trump and the FCC for their blatant violation of the Constitution or Disney and Nexstar for sacrificing their values and folding to a wannabe Mob Boss and his authoritarian goons,” Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., reacted. “It was Jimmy Kimmel tonight, but dare to criticize the president and it could be you tomorrow.”
“This isn’t right,” actor Ben Stiller wrote on X.
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“This is the actual cancel culture everyone claims to hate so much,” comedian Alex Edelman wrote on X.
CNN media analyst Brian Stelter called ABC’s move “so serious.”
“America is a less free place if late-night comedians cannot do or say what they want,” Stelter said on Wednesday night. “Of course, they can be tuned out. People can change the channel. That’s how we vote. That’s how we have our say in America. But this really does have a chilling effect across the American media.”
Former CNN analyst, and now frequent CNN guest, Jeffrey Toobin insisted Kimmel’s critics were “looking for reasons” to get him and “they manufactured one out of something that is, you know, hardly a dramatic departure from what a lot of people are saying.”
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MSNBC host Chris Hayes called it “the latest chapter in Donald Trump’s ongoing campaign to crack down on free speech, dominate the media and essentially render the First Amendment meaningless.” His primetime colleague Jen Psaki called it a “pretty watershed moment.”
Hayes said on X that it was the “most straightforward attack on free speech from state actors” that he has ever seen.
“It’s not just a media story. It’s a democracy story. It’s a freedom of speech story. It’s so many things,” Psaki said.
Ex-MSNBC host Keith Olbermann took aim at Disney chief Bob Iger, saying ABC and others “PROSTITUTE THEMSELVES FOR TRUMP.”
“Kimmel off air for truth telling about Charlie Kirk’s hate speech, MAGA exploitation of his death,” Olbermann continued.
He also ripped into Sinclair Broadcast Group for its announcement of airing a Kirk special in Kimmel’s place, writing, “Burn in hell, Sinclair. Alongside Charlie Kirk.”
Ex-CNN anchor Jim Acosta insisted Kimmel “deserves better than this” and called him a “class act.”
“Make no mistake, our right to free speech is under attack in this country. This right must be defended as it is essential to the American way of life,” Acosta warned on X.
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The Atlantic staff writer David Frum offered a grim prediction on “what comes next.”
“What is coming next is a crackdown on Democratic Party fundraising,” Frum said on CNN. “President Trump said we are going to go after those who raise funds for causes we don’t like. Stephen Miller said that even more emphatically. In April of this past year, Donald Trump, at his personal command, ordered his Department of Justice – an astonishing thing for a president to do – to investigate the Democratic Party’s small dollar donation platform ActBlue. The attack on Democratic Party fundraising is coming next. The suppression of Democratic Party speech is coming next.”
Former ABC News correspondent Terry Moran, who was dropped by the network this year for his X post trashing President Donald Trump and top White House aide Stephen Miller, similarly predicted it won’t stop with Kimmel.
“If you think they will stop with Jimmy Kimmel…or Matt Dowd…or some professor somewhere…or someone else who isn’t you—you’re wrong,” Moran wrote on X. “See what is happening in front of us, and say its name. That’s the crucial first step. Then we come together and stop it.”
Disney announced Wednesday it had pulled Kimmel’s late-night show “indefinitely” after he suggested that Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old Utah man charged for Kirk’s assassination, was part of the “MAGA gang” despite reports he had a left-wing ideology, which was later reaffirmed in Tuesday’s indictment.
“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,” Kimmel said Monday.
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Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group had expressed to ABC that it would preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”on the affiliate stations they operate unless the Disney-owned network addressed the controversy. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr also threatened ABC and Disney to remedy the situation, saying “we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
According to reports, Kimmel planned to address the controversy and say his remarks were being taken out of context on Wednesday night’s show before Disney took him off the air.
Comedian Wanda Sykes, who was supposed to appear on Kimmel’s show on Wednesday, also slammed the move in a post on Instagram.
She called out Trump and said the president ended freedom of speech.
“For those of you who pray, now’s the time to do it,” Sykes said.
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CNN’s Van Jones also slammed the decision in comments on the network on Wednesday.
“This is a red line that has been crossed for our industry. For the First Amendment, for the right of people to speak. There was nothing hateful about what was said,” he said. “And even hateful speech is protected.”
Liberals on Bluesky declared their support for Kimmel after the news broke.
“A free and democratic society cannot silence comedians because the President doesn’t like what they say. This is an attack on free speech and cannot be allowed to stand. All elected officials need to speak up and push back on this undemocratic act,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker, D-Ill., wrote.
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