Disney-owned ABC has yanked Jimmy Kimmel Live! “indefinitely” after the host’s monologue suggested Charlie Kirk’s assassin was “one of” the MAGA crowd. The trouble? Officials and reporting indicate the suspect leaned left-wing and lived with his transgender boyfriend. When the censors came for a liberal comedian, the same industry that cheered de-platforming conservatives for over a decade, found the taste a bit sour.Kimmel’s line — “the MAGA gang [is] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them” — became the match. Within hours, Nexstar, a major ABC affiliate operator, preempted the show. ABC then pressed pause across the board. This wasn’t a stray intern hitting the wrong switch; it was a top-down decision amid hardball signals from Washington. .Trump blames Jimmy Kimmel cancellation on 'lack of talent'.The federal thumb on the scale mattered. FCC Chair Brendan Carr publicly blasted Kimmel’s bit as “the sickest conduct possible” and talked up regulatory “work” ahead for ABC and Disney. Meanwhile, facts kept undercutting the monologue’s premise. Utah’s governor said the suspect held “leftist” views. International and US news outlets reported the suspect was in a relationship with a transgender biological male, who is co-operating with investigators. Prosecutors are pursuing the harshest penalties. In other words, not the MAGA supporter. .If this feels familiar, it should. When Fox cut ties with Tucker Carlson in 2023, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) applauded the takedown: “Deplatforming works … good things can happen,” said AOC in a video, likening his return to a Marvel villain popping up after the credits. The principle then was simple: speech you dislike should lose its microphone. Today, many who endorsed that logic are shocked to find it travelling in both directions. And the backlash is real..EDITORIAL: Teachers who celebrated Charlie Kirk’s assassination forfeit their right to teach .CNN said staff and guests were “shell-shocked” by the sudden pull — people were literally en route to the studio when the plug got pulled. On-air, Van Jones called the move “a red line … for the First Amendment.”.And the station revolt wasn’t theoretical. Nexstar publicly preempted Kimmel; Sinclair Broadcast Group went further by slotting a Charlie Kirk tribute into his time and demanding a public apology and donation to the family and Turning Point USA. That’s not a memo leak — it’s actual TV programming time.Here’s the awkward truth. Cancel culture came for the Left, and many don’t like the taste. When AOC cheered de-platforming as a civic good, the bar was set. When one of their own gets bounced for a claim the facts don’t support, the bar suddenly becomes an outrage. But rules that muzzle the other side will — inevitably — be used on yours. That’s why free expression is a principle, not a team sport. .EDITORIAL: Celebrating Charlie Kirk’s assassination is not journalism.None of this excuses ugly rhetoric, on late-night or anywhere else. It does explain why a Leftist broadcast culture that cheered platform-policing now finds itself at the mercy of it. The path out isn’t more government muscle or corporate panic. It’s something older and sturdier: argue hard, correct errors fast, and let viewers judge. That’s how you keep speech free — for everyone..For well over a decade now, the Left has been enjoying the protections of free speech, while granting no such quarter to its enemies. Now that they are on the receiving end, their pleading for mercy rings hollow. Free speech requires both sides to respect the rules of the game. If the Left wants this to end, it will need to demonstrate in a very real way that it understands how wrong it was, and that ending cancel culture will be extended to those they disagree with.
