Why the reinstatement of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel should be both noteworthy and concerning to you right now!
In the wake of the assassination of conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk, there has been backlash across the nation as Trump called to have Kimmel pulled from the air on September 17th based on his comments around the incident. On Kimmel’s highly anticipated and emotional return on Tuesday, September 23rd, he made light of the tragic context of recent events and how the past weeks have impacted his life. Truthfully, it is rare that you are able to see the humanity in a television personality, but Kimmel’s raw empathy and compelling words were so clearly from the heart, and an important message on why we need to take the reinstating of this show seriously. Here are my three important takeaways from his address to the public:
#1: Censorship is happening
In the words of late-night host John Stewart, “When a society is under threat, comedians are the ones who get sent away first.” Let that sink in. We are most under threat when the people who are allowed to poke fun at the government are. We are all living through such an unprecedented and insane time in history, one where the government is slowly stripping away our rights, and our First Amendment can be so easily threatened. Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr openly threatened ABC, saying, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way” in his comments about Kimmel. Similarly, other late-night hosts are under fire for offending Trump, and have stood together in solidarity. In Kimmel’s case, the FCC’s threat against ABC and Disney over Kimmel has been called a “mob tactic” to create fear and suppress free speech.Â
#2: Boycotting works
ABC and Disney currently control the broadcasting of Jimmy Kimmel Live, and in light of public outrage with the platform canceling his show on September 17th, Kimmel called for public discourse, and people listened. In the following 4 days, 1.7 million people reportedly canceled their Disney+ subscriptions. This massive use of our voices was impactful enough for Disney to feel the pressure to reinstate Kimmel with an agreement that he would apologize to viewers. With Tuesday’s video currently at 20 million views and counting, it is safe to say that an impact was made by Kimmel. Whether you like his commentary or not, we should all be able to look beyond the content of any television show and focus on the context of what this means for our country. While we would like to be hopeful for the future of Kimmel’s show and others, a New York Post review found that Kimmel’s viewership following his reinstatement dropped 64% in the days following his Tuesday return to the air.Â
#3: We must have empathy
Kimmel tailored his speech as not a public apology, but a call to action for viewers to combat violence and to stand up for our inherent right to have shows like his. His nuanced approach to the apology demonstrated his empathy for those criticizing him and referenced how the response to his comments is exactly what makes our current political climate so dangerous. In many ways, Kimmel made it very clear that he does not condone violence in any capacity, and that the assassination of a young man (Kirk) was not the answer and will never be. Throughout this emotional speech, Kimmel references the threats he and his family received, and strongly descents the use of hate speech and these types of cruel responses. In giving the American people even a sliver of insight into Kimmel’s persecution, we can hopefully feel the even stronger momentum of our stance on democracy to propel us forward.Â
To watch the full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1tjh_ZO_tY