The “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show was pulled from ABC on Sept. 17, following Kimmel’s comments about Charlie Kirk’s assassination. He has since returned to air as of Sept. 23. The news of his suspension came two months after Stephen Colbert’s late-night show was announced to be ending.
Source: Randy Holmes, AP Photo
News of Kimmel’s suspension sparked discourse online, some arguing that his First Amendment right to free speech was being violated, others supporting his suspension because of the sensitive nature of Kirk’s death. His comments came less than one week after Kirk was killed.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA Gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” said Kimmel, in his statement on the show that led to his suspension.
According to the Associated Press, Kimmel referred to Kirk’s killing as a “senseless murder” and condemned those who celebrated it.
ABC initially did not provide a reasoning for his suspension but released a statement on Sept. 22.
“We made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country. It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive,” said the Walt Disney Co., which owns ABC.
Kimmel opened his first show back from suspension by thanking fellow late-night hosts and public figures who showed their support. Candace Owens, James Corden and Jimmy Fallon are a few among the public figures that voiced support for him. Kimmel also shared a clip from Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz’s podcast, “Verdict With Ted Cruz” on his first episode back. On the podcast, Ted Cruz stated that he doesn’t like Kimmel, but agreed that he shouldn’t have been taken off air. He doesn’t agree with the government taking shows off air for using their freedom of speech.
“I have no illusions about changing anyone’s mind, but I do want to make something clear, because it’s important to me as a human and that is, you understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man,” said Kimmel. “I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.”
As for the SHU community, this news hasn’t gone unnoticed. Prof. Joseph Alicastro, SCMA professor, has spent over 30 years working as a news producer for NBC.
As for whether Kimmel’s suspension was an act of cancel culture, Alicastro said, “There is no question that Disney, ABC, Nexstar and Sinclair were responding to aggressive pressure coming from the administration and FCC Chair Brendan Carr.”
Nexstar and Sinclair are companies that own 20 percent of the broadcast stations that air Kimmel’s late-night show, and chose not to air his return episode, according to Alicastro.
“I think that the decision to suspend and return the show was probably the right decision from a corporate standpoint and perhaps was successful in cooling down the controversy and addressing it in context as Kimmel did in his return Tuesday night,” said Alicastro.
“I see the entire episode involving the cancellation of Kimmel’s show and Colbert’s show as payback against liberal Democrats, who for several years have done their very best to cancel the views and values of conservatives,” said Dr. Gary Rose, Scholar in Residence at SHU.
Rose noted that the initial suspension of Kimmel’s show was “considered by his audience as government censorship, which in some respects it appeared to be.”
Moreover, Rose mentioned the pressure from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
“[ABC] made the right decision because of the ratings, which is the company’s prerogative, but the way in which the FCC was involved and with President Trump encouraging censorship was flat wrong,” said Rose.
On the other hand, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said that Kimmel’s comments about Kirk’s accused killer misrepresented his political beliefs, as they are still unclear, according to the Associated Press.
Junior Maddy Jones watches Kimmel’s show nearly every week, however she disagreed with his comments.
“I think that it was completely inappropriate timing and that politicians who have passed away are not appropriate to be a part of comedy. Jimmy Kimmel’s skits are all supposed to be comedic, and obviously not everyone found it funny. That’s why it resulted in his show being canceled,” said Jones.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
