In Defense of Jimmy Kimmel’s Stupid Words | Opinion

Jimmy Kimmel said something dumb. He joked that the gunman who tried to assassinate Charlie Kirk was “one of them,” meaning a conservative.

That remark was stupid, careless, and offensive to at least half the country, myself included. But the shooter’s politics are as relevant as Charlie Kirk’s politics—in that they are not. Yes, the shooter was comfortable with guns and in a relationship with a trans person in the middle of transitioning. None of these facts are relevant. Like many ordinary Americans, he probably holds ideas that contradict the doctrine of either political party. To blame the Left or the Right for this lone-wolf act is total surface-level mentality. You are just phoning it in, missing the complex dynamics for what they really are.

That goes for Jimmy Kimmel and for anybody who flaps their gums for a living. Jimmy knows better and should apologize. But pulling the show? That is where the real story begins.

Kimmel made his remark. Then FCC chair Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, publicly warned local ABC affiliates that they could face investigations and even license trouble if they kept airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! Many of these affiliates are mom-and-pop operations held together with shoestring budgets and minimum-wage reporters. Carr basically put those tiny, vulnerable outlets in the crosshairs. Nexstar, the biggest ABC affiliate owner, caught the signal and yanked the show. Within hours ABC and Disney announced an indefinite suspension. From the outside it reads like the nation’s top broadcast cop leaning on the smallest, poorest stations first, triggering a chain reaction that made ABC fold.

This is where things get dark, and where we should all be worried. The FCC chair crossed the line from free speech into government coercion on behalf of Donald Trump. The U.S. government, at the direction of a president with a long record of punishing critics, has been setting this up for years. It is not a far leap to believe Trump called this shot personally. That is not free speech. That is the president crossing the line into dictatorship.

While it is unfortunate that ABC and its affiliates do not show more backbone, Trump’s FCC went after the local station owners threatening to pull their licenses. They have no legal firepower to fight back and it is not even remotely a fair fight. This is a third-world country shakedown, all because someone who talks for a living said something stupid.

Free speech has become a major liability in a disgustingly litigious society. Say something offensive and the Left might cancel you, and now the Right might cancel you too—unless you are Brian Kilmeade of Fox News suggesting that homeless people be euthanized.

Kilmeade quickly apologized, so it’s all good now. But if Kimmel is going down for saying that Charlie Kirk’s shooter was a conservative, then Kilmeade should definitely have gone down for suggesting we murder homeless people. Or we can realize, like adults, that people who talk all day are bound to say stupid things sometimes. Own the moment, apologize, move on, and do not do it again. Only a clear pattern should cost someone their job.

Meanwhile Trump has sued The New York Times for $15 billion for daring to question his propaganda, and demanded up to $20 billion from CBS before settling for a tiny fraction. This is not about money. It is about using the full force of the executive branch and Trump’s personal lawyers as a battering ram to intimidate institutions. Conservatives who cheer now will regret it when the pendulum swings. A future left-wing president could use the same precedent to target Fox News, Newsmax, or Sinclair under the guise of a revived fairness doctrine.

All of this points toward a dystopian future where late-night comedians are banned because no one is allowed to poke fun at the president, regardless of who is in office. Trump does it to soothe his ego. Democrats will do it because they see he got away with it. And then there are no more funny talk shows at all.

Thinking out loud is precisely what free speech is supposed to protect. If we do not defend the rights of people we disagree with, we do not really believe in free speech. Jimmy Kimmel said something stupid and should apologize. That is where this should end. Instead it looks like it is just getting started.

Jesse Edwards is director of Newsweek Radio & Podcasting, and the host of Newsweek Radio.

The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.