Optics matter, and Carr’s language sounded like a threat.
But ultimately, it was Disney/ABC that suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s show, not the federal government.
We may never know the precise details of the decisions made by Kimmel’s bosses. But what we do know is that the First Amendment was not violated.
Enshrined in the Bill of Rights is this:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Congress made no law that led to Kimmel’s suspension.
Free Speech allows you to say whatever you want. But there may be consequences for what your words. The government can’t punish you, but your employer has the legal right to suspend or terminate you for saying something that does not align with their values.
The outcry over Kimmel’s suspension has been predictably over-the-top. And it has also been rooted in misinformation about the First Amendment.
Kimmel was misinforming his audience on publicly owned airwaves, which are licensed by the FCC. The stations complained. Action was taken.
Kimmel has not been silenced, as many Hollywood and political screamers have ridiculously and falsely claimed. Kimmel can go to Satellite radio, cable television, the Internet, or anywhere else he wants and continue his career. Hell, he can go on tour and perform live.
The First Amendment has NOT been violated. Jimmy Kimmel has NOT been silenced.
And something else can also be true: no one is entitled to a late-night show on network television. Nothing in the Constitution gives anyone that privilege."
As I wrote about this 10 days ago:
"I mean assuming we survive the Trump Administration (perhaps I should start praying for that everyday) and the next President (hopefully starting in January, 2029) is a pro-Constitution, pro-rule of law... pro-law & order, (if you will President) does MAGA really want a Democratic administration, going after the Greg Gutfeld's, the Sean Hannity's, the Jesse Watters, the Laura Ingraham's? Because they all have bad habits of flat-out lying, or not even knowing what they're even talking about, when they do their commentaries (advertised as news) every night to their audiences.
I would bet anything that 4 years from now, if there is a Democratic administration at that point, MAGA and company will start pretending to be "champions of free speech again", if a Democratic led FCC starts targeting their commentators...
From The New Democrat
To be completely fair... all cards on the table, (as they say... somewhere) this blog post from Michele Tafoya, was published 8 days ago. Which is a day before ABC announced that Jimmy Kimmel Live is coming back and his first show back would be that Tuesday night. And she obviously didn't know that the Kimmel suspension was about to be over.
But as Michele Tafoya said:
"I wish that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, whom I recently hosted on my podcast, had not spoken the way he did about Jimmy Kimmel’s reprehensible — and false — remarks on last Monday’s edition of his late-night show.
Optics matter, and Carr’s language sounded like a threat.
But ultimately, it was Disney/ABC that suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s show, not the federal government....
ABC only suspended Jimmy Jimmel after:
"On Wednesday - Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, publicly criticized ABC for Kimmel's remarks, threatening regulatory action.
That same day - The suspension followed decisions by major station owners like Sinclair and Nexstar to preempt the show on their local ABC affiliates.
On Thursday - aboard Air Force One, Trump told reporters that networks giving him bad press "maybe" deserve to have their licenses taken away.
Trump also stated that it would be "up to Brendan Carr" to make such a decision, calling the FCC chairman "outstanding" and a "patriot...
From The New Democrat
So Kimmel was only suspended after the FCC threatened to pull ABC's broadcasting license. Does Michele Tafoya want to talk about this story from the perspective of a defense lawyer, (which she's not) or from the perspective of a journalist (which she's also not)? The journalist gets all the relevant facts that they can and puts them out there. The partisan commentator (which is something that Michele Tafoya is clearly more than qualified to be) just puts out the facts that best supports whatever partisan argument that they're making. Just like with a defense lawyer who only as their client to represent.
And her 2nd point:
"Congress made no law that led to Kimmel’s suspension.
Free Speech allows you to say whatever you want. But there may be consequences for what your words. The government can’t punish you, but your employer has the legal right to suspend or terminate you for saying something that does not align with their values...
She's technically correct that Congress didn't make any law on this case. What she's leaving out is that they didn't have to. The FCC can pull licenses of television networks, which is what they threatened to do in ABC's case, because of Jimmy Kimmel's comment about Charlie Kirk and MAGA. With ABC responding to that by suspending Jimmy Jimmy Live for about a week. So it was government pressure that led to the Kimmel suspension.
And as Michele Tafoya also said:
"The government can’t punish you, but your employer has the legal right to suspend or terminate you for saying something that does not align with their values...
"You employer has the legal right to suspend or terminate you for saying something that does not align with their values...
Hate to break it to Tafoya, ABC is not a church, it's not a religion, not a religious organization. It's a for-profit company as a broadcast network. Like their parent company, Disney, ABC is in the business to make money. They suspended Kimmel because the FCC threatened pull their license had they not. They brought Kimmel back because of the outcry from the Kimmel suspension and they were losing money keeping Kimmel off the air. The same reason why Sinclair and Nexstar brought Kimmel back last Friday.
This has nothing to do with "values". As my colleague Kire Schneider likes to say: "Money talks and bullshit walks". The "bullshit" here being the Kimmel suspension in the first place. The "money" part being all the money that Jimmy Kimmel brings to ABC, as well as Sinclair and Nexstar. $70 million a year alone, just from the TV show on ABC, for ABC, alone.
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