Courtesy of The People
In an act of blatant censorship from the station, ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” was abruptly removed from the air. This occurred after Kimmel faced criticism for comments made about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Despite ABC’s claim of an “indefinite suspension for the show,” it returned to the air on the night of Sept. 23.
Kimmel is considered generally left-leaning in his comedy. However, compared to someone like Stephen Colbert — another comedian and late night talk show host — he is pretty mild in his commentary. Colbert’s show was cancelled and will go off-air in May 2026, supposedly for “business reasons.” He is very blunt in his comedy, having repeatedly called out and criticized Trump on air, long before Kimmel, since Trump’s campaign and election in 2016. Trump was vocal about celebrating the cancellation of Colbert’s show, posting on TruthSocial, “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.” Although Trump continues to insist that he has nothing to do with Colbert’s show being cancelled, there is clearly a pattern here: between the money makers and the big man in office, when someone is saying negative things about him, Trump finds a way to cut them off one way or another. This time, it just took him 10 years to get there. One can only hope that Colbert will either be picked up by another station or find the means to run his own show.
To say that Kimmel was being offensive with his on-air jokes on the night of Sept. 15 would be pushing it. The joke in question that got Kimmel suspended was 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,” he said.
Kimmel also criticized President Donald Trump’s reaction to Kirk’s death, saying:
“This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend; this is how a four year old mourns a goldfish.”
To properly analyze these comments, let us break them down individually. In the first quote, Kimmel is referring to Kirk’s shooter, Tyler Robinson, who was arrested on Sept. 16. Information has come out since regarding his politics and the events surrounding the shooting, although a clear motive has yet to be established as of Oct. 3. Robinson’s family has released information saying that the shooter’s political affiliations had become significantly more left-leaning in the last year or so. Kimmel’s comment is referring to this, but also, more subtly, to the well-known fact that far-right extremist violence happens more frequently and is more violent than far-left extremist violence.
I find Kimmel’s comment about Trump quite funny, but aside from that I do agree with Kimmel that Trump’s reaction lacks significant emotional depth. Oftentimes, when I watch Trump speak, it feels hollow and lifeless, and I say that not just because I have a deep-seated hatred for his policies and for him as a person. I think he lacks the fundamental capacity for empathy to think about anybody but himself, and Kimmel hit it right on the nose. However, I have to say, Colbert has been doing that on his show for the past 10 years. I enjoy Colbert’s humor because of how blunt he is about everything, and while I do not personally enjoy Kimmel’s humor, he is handling this situation remarkably well for someone in his position. Trump has not since directly spoken about it, leading me to think he may be a bit butthurt which, honestly, makes it even funnier.
The Federal Communications Chair Brendan Carr, was the first to suggest suspending Kimmel’s show. Carr has been a member of the FCC since 2012, was appointed chair by Trump himself in 2017 and was recently reselected for the position by Trump. There is a clear conflict of interest here between Carr and Trump, and the FCC has significant power over ABC if they were to go against them. So, ABC caved, and within a few hours of Carr denouncing Kimmel’s show, Kimmel’s show was pulled from the air.
The act of pulling Kimmel’s show from the air was blatant censorship on ABC’s part. PBS defines censorship, specifically in media: “Suppression of ideas and information that certain persons —individuals, groups or government officials — find objectionable or dangerous.”
Trump and his supporters disliked Kimmel’s critique of their behaviors, and Trump was personally offended. So, according to Trump, the entire show is dangerous information that is not to be broadcast to the public.
The American people fought back, from celebrities speaking out, protests erupting in front of Disney studios, to an unknown but seemingly large number of people cancelling their Disney+ subscriptions in a boycott attempt to get Kimmel’s show back on the air. Whether it was the pressure from the people or the money, something changed the decision of ABC executives, bringing the question to mind, “Can our pushback actually have an impact on big corporations’ choices?” In this case, it is clear to me that the answer is yes, they can — the American people believed so strongly in the power of free speech, and perhaps because they had some more powerful people on their side, but they were in fact able to change ABC’s decision.
Trump’s attack on free speech continues beyond the context of Kimmel’s show, of ABC, or of Brendan Carr. There is a growing list of words being compiled by the Trump administration that have been scrubbed from all government websites and documents, flagged and pending review. These words range from “clean energy” and “gender affirming care” to “woman” and “queer, with the list still growing. Additionally, on Sept. 18, Trump said regulators should consider revoking the license of any broadcaster who airs negative coverage or commentary of him. All press is good press, except if it is even slightly critical, then Trump immediately wants it off the air and will do anything in his power to make that happen. I believe that this is at the core of Trump’s censorship, and why it is so problematic: like with Colbert, he is censoring the criticism of him and the things that hurt his personal feelings or paint him in a bad light. This is also a very authoritarian practice in addition to being narcissistic.
The American people may feel hopeless as the current administration does their best to censor more media than it has before. However, we as a country and specifically as young people have more than ever the chance to speak our minds through the power of social media. Social media can be used to rally towards the greater goods, find like minded individuals, and even plan events like protests or walkouts. In a time of hopelessness, we look not only to each other, but also to celebrities with mass followings and large influences. If the people with the most influence use their voice for good, we may just be able to stand up and change the course of history in one way or another.
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