Was Kimmel suspension really a violation of free speech?



Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night “comedy” show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” was suspended all of six days before ABC caved to public pressure from the left and reinstated it.

The network originally pulled the show because Kimmel made the following vile comment just six days after Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was publicly assassinated while speaking on his college campus tour: “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 went on to make fun of President Trump for his reaction to being asked how he was handling the death of his friend. “I think very good,” he said before quickly pivoting to discussing a White House ballroom renovation project.

Liz explains, "When you are a public broadcast network ... ABC, or NBC, or CBS, you have a broadcast license. You're not a cable news network. You have a broadcast license from the federal government. It's issued by the FCC ... and part of the terms of your broadcast license is that you are to serve the public interest."

But the left spun the narrative that the government strong-armed ABC to suspend the show because Kimmel criticized Donald Trump.

Clearly they’ve forgotten that “he's been [mocking Donald Trump] on a nightly basis for the last decade” and has never been fired for it, says Liz Wheeler, BlazeTV host of “The Liz Wheeler Show.”

“Jimmy Kimmel was not fired for making a joke at Donald Trump's expense. He wasn't even fired for mocking Charlie Kirk, as despicable as he is for doing that. … Jimmy Kimmel was fired for lying about Charlie Kirk's assassin,” she clarifies, noting that Kirk’s alleged murderer has been proven to be a radical leftist.

Kimmel “lied and libeled half of the country,” says Liz.

But that’s exactly what he’s expected to do. As part of the left-wing media apparatus, Kimmel is expected to broadcast “malicious, false vilification of everyone who dared to vote for Donald Trump.”

This kind of hate-inspiring rhetoric is the entire reason Charlie Kirk is dead, says Liz.

“Children, yes, like Tyler Robinson, are indoctrinated with violent, revolutionary, neo-Marxist ideology like transgenderism. This happens in schools from kindergarten all the way through college,” and “the mainstream media and voices like Jimmy Kimmel play a large, even an outsized, role in that kind of propaganda,” she explains.

Whether it’s a teacher celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk or Kimmel’s slanderous lie that Robinson was MAGA and that Trump supporters are a violent gang, it is moral and necessary for them to lose their jobs.

“It's not cancel culture; it's self-defense,” says Liz.

To hear more of her commentary, watch the episode above.

Want more from Liz Wheeler?

To enjoy more of Liz’s based commentary, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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Glenn Beck’s surprising take on Jimmy Kimmel



On Wednesday, September 18, ABC announced the network’s decision to indefinitely suspend "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" following host Jimmy Kimmel's controversial comments about Charlie Kirk’s assassination on September 10.

"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 said on the show’s September 16 episode.

The hateful and inaccurate comment drew sharp criticism from FCC Chair Brendan Carr and led major affiliates Nexstar and Sinclair to pre-empt the show.

Of course, the left is crying government overreach, claiming Carr forced the show’s suspension through coercion and threats, but Glenn Beck, who knows Carr personally, says he highly doubts that’s true.

“I want you to know I am not for government involvement in any of this. Government should not be involved in this at all,” he clarifies.

And yet he can’t dismiss the glaring irony of liberals’ cries of government censorship when they ignored and even supported Democrat administrations, specifically Biden's and Obama's, quietly pressuring social media companies like Facebook and Twitter to censor conservative voices.

These Democrat administrations were “flexing their muscles all the time, making quiet threats to companies all the time, but yeah, apparently [liberals] don't see that,” he scoffs.

The left didn’t care about protecting free speech when it was Tucker Carlson’s show — rated number two in all of cable news at the time — that was ripped off air at the behest of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who accused the Fox News anchor of "incitement of violence" in the lead-up to the January 6 Capitol events. The socialist Democrat even bragged that it was her pressure campaign that influenced Fox’s decision to part ways with Carlson. “Deplatforming works and it is important. Good things can happen,” she boasted.

But now that there’s suspicion that a Trump administration might have played a role in a show’s suspension, liberals are suddenly fretting over government overreach?

“Now, you could say that maybe these companies are afraid of Donald Trump. Well, I will tell you that ABC should be afraid,” says Glenn, citing the $16 million defamation settlement that Trump won against ABC News over George Stephanopoulos falsely claiming Trump was found “liable for rape” in the E. Jean Carroll case — a costly lesson that likely drove ABC to suspend Kimmel’s show to avoid another legal blow.

Lawsuits like this, Glenn argues, are how broadcasters like Kimmel should be held accountable — not through government censorship, but through courts.

But there’s no doubt Kimmel has earned his current predicament.

Not only was his comment about Kirk’s alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, being MAGA “not comedy,” it was a “lie,” says Glenn, adding that the blame isn’t just on Kimmel but on ABC as a whole, since surely the show’s script was seen by many eyes prior to airing.

More than ever, it’s clear that ABC is “agenda-driven,” he says.

But even so, “the FCC should not be involved in this,” he reiterates. “Let the grassroots market work itself out, not these giant organizations that are funded with our tax dollars.”

To hear more of Glenn’s commentary, watch the episode above.

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To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.