BREAKDOWN: Kimmel Battle Is Deeper Than You Think

Jimmy Kimmel’s longtime gig as a late-night talk show host has been suspended indefinitely after ABC pulled the plug, following the comedian’s insensitive comments regarding Charlie Kirk and assassin Tyler Robinson. Kimmel’s suspension has set off a firestorm in the mainstream media, and not surprisingly, much of Hollywood is already rallying to his support.

President Donald Trump, who was often the target of Kimmel’s ire, weighed in on the news during a press conference in the UK with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and he blamed Kimmel’s low ratings and “lack of talent”:

Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else, and he said a horrible thing about a great man named Charlie Kirk. Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person. He had very bad ratings, and they should have fired him a long time ago. You can call that free speech or not. He was fired for lack of talent.

Trump also celebrated the dismissal on his Truth social account, posting that Kimmel’s firing was “Great News for America.”

The controversy stems from Jimmy Kimmel making a statement in a monologue on Monday that was an offensive distortion of reality on the same level as when an MSNBC commentator stated that Kirk may have been accidentally killed by one of his supporters. Kimmel effectively said that MAGA supporters made a concerted effort to paint Charlie Kirk’s assassin, Tyler Robinson, as a member of the Left, when, according to the talk show host, Robinson was a member of the Right. A ridiculous, offensive notion that is also demonstrably false.

That’s when the providers, local networks, and station owners, including Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcasting, that own ABC affiliates across the country, said, We don’t like that statement. We don’t want that on our stations, so we are preempting this show. As is their right as private businesses.

ABC, and its parent company Disney, made the decision to pull Kimmel indefinitely. And it was likely a financial decision more so than censorship, which the elite Hollywood Leftists and former President Obama are claiming.

But all this controversy begs the question: Does America – and, in this instance, do media companies – need to be more cautious with what they allow to go out on their airwaves in the wake of such a horrific event as the assassination of Charlie Kirk – a man who literally fought, and also died, for free speech and open debate?

At the same time, the writing is on the wall – late-night TV is clearly on the decline. Stephen Colbert, the darling of the Left who made a living skewering conservatives, had his show canceled after it continuously lost money. And now Jimmy Kimmel’s time on network late-night appears to be over, and Leftists can say what they want, but it doesn’t appear to be about politics as much as it is the usual suspect: money.

Comedy used to take shots at whoever was in power, but in the last decade, it’s shifted almost entirely to mocking conservatives. That choice might have pleased some viewers, but ultimately it proved a poison pill, as overall ratings dropped, and advertisers were no longer willing to pay what they used to, despite these shows costing more to make. In Colbert’s case, it was reportedly losing tens of millions a year. So when networks suspend or even cancel these programs, it often comes down to math, not political pressure.

U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions Ric Grenell joined the broadcast and shared his personal reaction to Jimmy Kimmel’s dismissal:

What is happening right now is the consequence culture. When you say something that is targeting someone and really pushing the mentally ill to take violent actions because you’re saying that that person is a fascist or a threat to democracy. The Left has got to take responsibility for what they’re doing, because they’re encouraging weak and mentally unstable people to take action.

Still, there’s an important truth to keep in mind. A company deciding whether a show is sustainable is not the same thing as the government telling people what they can or can’t say. Conservatives are right to be concerned that government power could be misused against speech – after all, we’ve seen government-led pressure campaigns targeting social media companies to silence conservative voices, including our former client Charlie Kirk, for years. That’s a real threat.

But when Disney or ABC suspends a host, that’s a business exercising its judgment. They have shareholders to answer to. If you’re either losing money or endangering their ability to make money, you will soon find you no longer have a timeslot.

Regardless, the lesson here is to stay vigilant about protecting free speech from government overreach, while also recognizing that private companies have the right to make decisions about what they put on air.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included more discussion about Jimmy Kimmel being pulled off the air and what it says about the political climate at large, and if it affects free speech. We also heard more from Ric Grenell, who shared more insight into Trump’s visit to the UK and the changes he’s noticing in arts and entertainment under the new Administration.

Watch the full broadcast below: