The Left’s Reaction to Jimmy Kimmel’s Firing Is Funnier Than He Ever Was

 Issues & Insights  

"Lo and behold, Democrats have used the FCC’s broad censorship power in the past to silence political speech they didn’t like."

"It’s been amusing to watch the left’s reaction to ABC giving the boot to Jimmy Kimmel.

Not because of its rank hypocrisy when it comes to censorship. Or its claim that firing a low-rated late-night “comic” means “authoritarianism has arrived.” Or the fact that it is far more outraged that Kimmel lost his time slot than that Charlie Kirk lost his life over things each said.

"What’s most amusing is how blissfully ignorant the left is about how the news and entertainment industry works these days.

"First, let’s dispense with the censorship ruse. ABC is a private company and is entitled to hire or fire whomever it wants. Networks do this all the time, usually without a peep of protest.

"Last year, CBS fired veteran reporter Catherine Herridge – and seized her belongings – for unknown reasons. (She’d been investigating the Hunter Biden laptop scandal.) Also in 2024, NBC News fired former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel shortly after hiring her as a commentator. There was no handwringing about the death of democracy.

"If Kimmel’s ratings hadn’t been in the toilet, the network might have been willing to put up with his flagrant lying about Kirk’s alleged assassin, and his plan to double down on that lie the next night. ABC decided he wasn’t worth the hassle.

"But, we’re told, the real threat to free speech is that President Donald Trump – or more accurately the head of the Federal Communications Commission – is said to have threatened to pull ABC’s license if it didn’t can Kimmel.

" 'The silencing of Mr. Kimmel, following an explicit threat by Brendan Carr, the head of ABC’s regulator, the Federal Communications Commission, is the mask of ‘free speech’ coming off for good,” Michael Hirschorn ominously intoned in the New York Times.

"Has Hirschorn been asleep for the past three decades?

"Is he, and the rest of the Jimmy Kimmel sniveling crowd, really not aware that cable TV and the internet have largely supplanted network TV as a source of news and entertainment?" . . .

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