WASHINGTON — ABC and Disney were right to suspend Jimmy Kimmel over his remarks about the killing of Charlie Kirk, a leading far-right U.S. House Republican told Raw Story — only to bizarrely equate the national flashpoint with a hypothetical instance in which the late-night TV host might have made similar remarks about “the KKK [shooting] a Black man.”
Kimmel’s suspension last week was an instance of a “private company making a choice [regarding] somebody who took the side of the shot that's heard around the world,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) told Raw Story at the Capitol.
“Let him do it and face the consequences. I could … if the KKK had shot a Black man, what would the result be? Wouldn't be close.”
Norman, who has served in the House since 2017, appeared to be suggesting that Kimmel would have been suspended without outcry from Democrats and the press, if he had made remarks about that hypothetical racist murder.
In fact, Kimmel was suspended over remarks about the search for a motive in the killing of Kirk, who was shot on 10 Sept., during an appearance on a college campus in Utah.
A 22-year-old suspect, Trent Robinson, has been charged.
Kimmel first condemned the killing and stated his sympathy for Kirk’s family.
Then, on air last Monday, Kimmel said: “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.”
He then joked about Donald Trump’s response to questions from reporters who asked him about Kirk’s death and how he was coping, which was to boast about his project to build a new White House ballroom.
“Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief: construction,” Kimmel said. “Demolition, construction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish.”
Kimmel was suspended indefinitely after Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr discussed his remarks and rising rightwing anger about them on a far-right podcast, suggesting Kimmel’s employers could “do this the easy way or the hard way.”
It also emerged that two companies that control TV networks that carry ABC content, Nexstar and Tegna, were close to a merger and that Nexstar wanted action against Kimmel.
Kimmel had also long been a target of Trump. In July, the president celebrated CBS’s cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s late-night show by saying Kimmel would be next.
Republicans who spoke to Raw Story at the Capitol as the drama unfolded had zero sympathy for Kimmel.
Some also hit out at media coverage of the affair, particularly charges that Trump and his administration were attacking free speech rights under the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Another South Carolina far-right firebrand, Rep. Nancy Mace, told Raw Story: “It wasn't the FCC or Trump, it was ABC themselves” who chose to suspend Kimmel.
“So it's just a media lie to say Trump did this, or that the FCC did this. They didn't. ABC News made the call themselves. Trump didn't call them, the FCC didn't call them. So they did it on their own because of the blowback. It's a free market.”
Kimmel’s suspension was not ordered by ABC News but by Disney, parent company of all ABC divisions.
Legal observers agree that private companies can fire people over speech. Many, however, say a president cannot lean on companies to fire individuals on such grounds.
The issue may now be moot — or at least will remain so until Kimmel next crosses Trump and his supporters. On Monday, Disney said Kimmel would return Tuesday night.
“Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country,” a statement said.
“It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive. We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”
‘Payback for cancel culture’
Needless to say, Democrats see the affair differently to Norman, Mace and their allies.
“You can't even say a good joke in public anymore,” Rep. Lou Correa (D-CA) laughed ruefully, before predicting: “Based on what I've seen so far, you’ll probably have more attempts at censorship.”
Correa was under no doubt as to who was really responsible for Kimmel’s suspension.
“He [Trump] essentially controls the FCC, controls Congress, controls the Senate, very strong influence on the Supreme Court,” Correa said.
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Tex) said the president was guilty of “an abuse of power,” adding: “Without the pressure of Donald Trump and the federal government, I doubt Disney or Nexstar would have done what they did.
“Nexstar has a multi-billion-dollar merger pending. That very much played into their decision.”
Like Correa, who wondered “if the voters speak loudly next year” on free speech, Castro signaled Democrats will look to use Kimmel’s suspension on the campaign trail, going into the crucial midterms next year.
“Donald Trump is spending way too much time looking after late-night comedians and not enough time working on improving the economy for the American people,” Castro said.
To Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT), Kimmel’s plight was in large part an instance of Republican “payback for all the cancel culture” – instances of public figures being called out, mostly by liberals and progressives, for remarks deemed inappropriate or offensive.
But, Courtney said, “This is different because it's the arm of the government that's now involved, and that’s different than having, you know, people tweet at you and complain about nasty things you said.
“Having the government weighing in … obviously … that puts this in a much different place.”
