Love him or hate him, Jimmy Kimmel’s temporary suspension from ABC—and his return to the air one week later—should scare us all.
First, a quick recap: On September 10, right-wing activist-slash-podcaster Charlie Kirk was fatally shot at a speaking event at Utah Valley University. The suspected assassin, Tyler James Robinson, was arrested the next day. On the Tuesday following Kirk’s murder, Jimmy Kimmel, host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC, opened his monologue by saying Republicans were “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.” He was referring to photos of Robinson holding guns as a child and the fact that he came from a family of Trump supporters—details that directly undercut the right’s original claims that the killer must have been a radical leftist.
Kimmel’s remarks felt tepid—more observation than indictment. The public reaction, however, has been anything but. And to be clear, this isn’t unique to one side of the aisle. Every time there’s a politically motivated shooting, both sides rush to pin the blame on the other before the facts are even clear. That knee-jerk framing stands right alongside the spin Kimmel was calling out.
Two days later, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, went on a podcast and accused Kimmel of deliberately lying to the American people. He warned that because the FCC grants broadcasters licenses, consequences could be had, saying, ”When we see stuff like this…we can do this the easy way or the hard way.” Then, just hours after Carr’s remarks, Disney-owned ABC announced that Jimmy Kimmel Live! would be indefinitely suspended.
Less than a week later, ABC reversed course and reinstated Kimmel. But the suspension left a mark. Some affiliate stations have already said they won’t air his return, choosing instead to run Charlie Kirk tributes in his time slot. That’s their right, but the larger concern isn’t local programming decisions—it’s that government pressure played a role in silencing a national show in the first place.
This should set off a cacophony of alarm bells. Kimmel and other contemporary late-night hosts like Seth Meyers and Stephen Colbert have become distinctly more political than their predecessors like Jay Leno and Johnny Carson. Where older hosts seldom revealed much of their politics, today’s hosts often use their monologues as political commentary. That a passing remark about the political leanings of a suspected murderer has sparked suppression, corporate outrage, and boycotts is chilling for the future of America.
Before going further, it’s worth clarifying what the First Amendment actually protects. Free speech means the government cannot retaliate against someone for expressing their opinions. It doesn’t mean there are no consequences. Private consequences, like losing a job or a platform, don’t fall under the First Amendment. The red line, however, is government interference. That’s why the issue here isn’t just that Kimmel was briefly suspended by ABC, but that government pressure helped make it happen.
And here’s the hypocrisy: conservatives have long claimed to be the champions of free speech, often accusing liberals of trying to suppress it. Yet in February, Vice President JD Vance stood on stage at the Munich Security Conference touting Trump’s executive order to “restore” free speech, saying, “…under Donald Trump’s leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square, agree or disagree.”
Both political parties have been accused of using their power to curb speech, but recent events have taken it to new levels. It was Trump, after all, who told reporters aboard Air Force One that networks that criticize him “should have their licenses taken away.” And just recently, CBS announced that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert would end in May, a decision that raised eyebrows since it came right after Colbert blasted a $16 million settlement that Paramount, CBS’s parent company, had made with Trump. Paramount denied the cancellation was connected to Colbert’s criticisms, but the timing is hard to ignore.
This looks a lot like silencing people for speaking their minds—the very thing Vance promised a Trump administration would never do. For a party that rails against “cancel culture,” Republicans seem perfectly comfortable canceling voices they don’t like. It goes against everything they’ve been spouting for years. And Trump’s push to erase late-night criticism won’t stop with Colbert or Kimmel. He’s already called for Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers to be taken off the air, too. That’s the slippery slope: once silencing critics becomes acceptable, no voice is safe.
Satire has always been a vital political tool. It exposes flaws in regimes and provokes conversations leaders would rather avoid. The Nazi regime silenced cabaret in the 1940s. The Soviet Union treated jokes about Stalin as crimes. Dictators throughout history have recognized comedy as dangerous precisely because it cuts through propaganda. In that sense, satire is a barometer of freedom: democracy allows it; authoritarianism smothers it.
America has its own long tradition of satire. Colonial-era political cartoons mocked King George. Benjamin Franklin wrote biting satirical essays. Saturday Night Live has skewered presidents of both parties for decades, shaping the late-night culture we know today. And red flags have cropped up here, too: Nixon tried to block The New York Times from publishing classified documents, and McCarthyism in the 1950s persecuted those suspected of communist sympathies. History shows that when satire erodes, freedom follows.
These historical examples are warnings of what happens when free speech is suppressed. Kimmel and Colbert aren’t just entertainers; they’re part of a long tradition of using satire to hold power accountable. Punishing dissent to protect those at the top is never something to celebrate, but a harbinger of the danger to come. And what’s most chilling here isn’t just the political anger—it’s the corporate compliance. Trump calling for Kimmel’s removal is one thing. Disney going along with it is another.
You can disagree with Jimmy Kimmel’s view and also find his suspension wrong. In fact, that’s the point of free speech. It isn’t about just protecting the voices of those we like, but safeguarding those we don’t. Ironically, Vance had the best take on what the American perspective on free speech should look like. Free speech matters the most when the speech in question is uncomfortable or controversial because that’s when the temptation to silence is the strongest. If we decide it’s acceptable to punish one person for their speech, this right becomes shaky for everyone. Free speech must be upheld for all.
Today, it’s Jimmy Kimmel. Tomorrow, it could be journalists, teachers, or other “ordinary” people without Kimmel’s platform to fight back. Every act of censorship, no matter how small, erodes the freedom America claims to uphold. Kimmel’s suspension isn’t trivial…it’s dangerous. Normalize silencing dissent, and you decide that criticism is punishable and free speech only exists to bolster those in power. The question isn’t whether you like Kimmel’s jokes, but whether you want a government deciding which jokes you’re allowed to hear.