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ABC announced that late-night host Jimmy Kimmel was “indefinitely” suspended after he callously milked Charlie Kirk’s murder by claiming President Donald Trump fans were desperate to avoid the “fact” that Kirk’s shooter was a Trump fan. That lie was transformed by broadcast newscasts into a glorious free-speech case.
When ABC announced that the “indefinite” suspension was only going to last four nights, the networks rallied. On Tuesday, ABC anchor David Muir touted the company line: “Disney says the decision comes after thoughtful conversations with Kimmel.” That’s funny. “Thoughtful” isn’t usually the first adjective to describe Kimmel’s Trump-trashing monologues.
ABC and CBS bizarrely left out the fact that ABC affiliates owned by Nexstar and Sinclair would not run new episodes. NBC and PBS included that. ABC, CBS and PBS skipped over any recitation of the original Kimmel lie. It sounded like, hey, conservatives grumbled, but they just don’t like free speech that criticizes Trump.
YOUNG CONSERVATIVES SAY KIMMEL FACED ‘CONSEQUENCES,’ NOT CANCEL CULTURE AFTER ABC SUSPENSION
NBC was the only one of the Big Three to report on the new details of the labor leader who shot up the ABC affiliate in Sacramento, which includes enough evidence to confirm that this is indeed a political shooting. That’s right: ABC News wasn’t interested in reporting shots fired into an ABC station.
Upon his return, Kimmel combined some crying with more shameless lying. He claimed “it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man. I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.” Yes, he did. His first concern was thrilling his Trump-hating audience.
He added: “Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of—it was a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make.” No, it wasn’t. He clearly spread kooky conspiracy theories nationwide that somehow, you’d kill Charlie Kirk if you loved Trump, which makes no sense.
HOLDING ABC’S JIMMY KIMMEL ACCOUNTABLE ISN’T ‘CANCEL CULTURE’ — IT’S BASIC FAIRNESS
Overflowing with disdain, he had claimed “the MAGA gang” was “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.”
At that moment, Kimmel was trying to score political points from Kirk’s horrible death in front of his family, viciously attempting to turn the finger of blame around to Trump voters. Kimmel can do the fake crying routine, but the crocodile tears weren’t convincing.
These networks completely avoided the story that Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan announced on Tuesday that “Google commits to offer ALL creators previously kicked off YouTube due to political speech violations to return to the platform.” Google admitted the Biden administration pressured them to censor, even speech that did not violate its own standards.
LATE-NIGHT HOSTS RALLY AROUND KIMMEL FOLLOWING SUSPENSION, ACCUSE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OF CENSORING HOST
It wasn’t just Trump who Big Tech deplatformed. Many conservatives were dumped. YouTube dropped big names like FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, “War Room” host Steve Bannon and White House counterterrorism chief Sebastian Gorka. This wasn’t just about COVID-19 “disinformation” – some of which is now considered information – it was pro-Trump commentary on controversial topics.
It’s at least a little shocking that ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS devoted a total of almost 25 minutes to their hero Kimmel on their Tuesday and Wednesday evening newscasts, but they haven’t touched on the Biden-pushes-censorship angle.
These networks easily demonstrate that the only people they suggest are suffering from curtailed speech are their friends and allies. The most precious speech is anti-Trump speech, regardless of whether it’s true or viciously false. Conservatives being banned and deplatformed? That’s just making sure “democracy” functions with better information.
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Omitting those irksome Republican narratives from Jim Jordan isn’t censorship, but it makes it hilarious when they wail about how Trump wants “state-controlled media.” They still sound controlled by Democrat operatives.
DISNEY’S JIMMY KIMMEL BENCHING PROMPTS CELEBRATION, BUT ALSO CAUTION, FROM CONSERVATIVES
By Thursday morning, with all the Democrats rushing to ABC and YouTube to demonstrate their love for Kimmel, the networks gushed again. On NBC’s “Today,” reporter Liz Kreutz touted “his highest-rated show in a decade” and oozed that “many are praising the way Kimmel has handled the situation. We are now hearing from others who say his remarks didn’t go far enough.”
That’s your average Democrat. You can never go “far enough” in trashing Trump.
Google admitted the Biden administration pressured them to censor, even speech that did not violate its own standards.
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Kimmel quickly returned to his dreadful form. On his second night back, actor Ethan Hawke fawned over him: “I’m glad to have you back in the United States of America … I was told you were sent to a Russian Gulag. But luckily, you’re back.” Kimmel agreed: “Thank you. I appreciate that. It’s hard to tell the difference now between the Gulags and the United States.” Kimmel took a few nights off from TV. He wasn’t sent to a prison camp.
The triumphantly arrogant tone of network TV script readers sounds like they think democracy and freedom of speech start and end with their speech. Their tirades, both “news” and “comedy,” are heroic resistance. Any rebuttal is presented as disturbing, and perhaps tumbling out of an “authoritarian playbook.” Google and Team Biden demonstrated what their “authoritarian playbook” looks like. No wonder the networks squashed it.