Thinking that Jimmy Kimmel was “held accountable” for his words is a slippery slope. And frankly, nonsense. Kimmel, who called out Fox News and the MAGA party for how they spoke about Charlie Kirk’s killer, has had his show put hiatus indefinitely. That should scare you.
The cancelation of Stephen Colbert was enough of a shock to fans that we all began to wonder if we were entering into an age of censorship because it seemed as if the only real reason Colbert was being canceled was because Trump threw his weight around and was threatening the studio behind The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, allegedly.
Now, we’re seeing a similar pattern with Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Trump is not a fan of these late night hosts. They are not afraid to call him out and men like Kimmel and Colbert have both used their platform to lean hard into Trump and his policies as has Seth Meyers on Late Night with Seth Meyers. The only one who has a tame approach to Trump has consistently been Jimmy Fallon. And even he isn’t safe from Trump’s ire.
“Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done,” Trump wrote. “Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!! President DJT.”
Meaning that he doesn’t care about anything other than the fact that these men all speak out against him. And if you think he’s right about the ratings, Colbert was canceled because of “financial reasons” and had nothing to do with his ratings. Kimmel’s hiatus is because of his “comments.”
This is really scary!
History books tell us that this isn’t a step in a direction we want to go. And yet we see tweets from the MAGA party and those who agree with Trump and his beliefs celebrating the “deaths” of these late night shows. Why? Because their opinions are different from your own? Party of the joy of being an American is being able to have a different opinion about politics and the ability to voice that upset. THAT is what free speech actually means and not what the Right have turned it to be.
So for the “free speech” party to celebrate the death of actual free speech is horrifying. Every single day I wonder if everyone else just skipped out on Civics class in high school when I see what some people think is “okay” by our government’s standards. But I thought that this, the blatant censorship we’re seeing, would be a cause of concern for everyone.
So if you weren’t scared before, I hope that Kimmel’s hiatus is the wake-up call you need. They’re forcing him to apologize for criticizing the Right and how they are politicizing a murder to fit their mold. They threatened to take action and then ABC folded accordingly. That’s not okay and it is a terrifying time.
(featured image: ABC)
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
