Below is my column in the Hill on the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel and how long advocates of censorship and blacklisting are suddenly alarmed over the threat to free speech. The greatest comedic relief came from Hillary Clinton, one of the most anti-free speech figures of the last decade. Without a hint of self-awareness or shame, Clinton expressed horror at a suspension over spreading disinformation.
Democrats were finally outraged this week. No, it was not about the murder of Charlie Kirk, but rather the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night comedy show.
Democratic leaders are taking to the airways to denounce the decision to take Kimmel off the air after he spread disinformation about Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer.
The same leaders and pundits who have for years fought for censorship in the name of combating disinformation are now making the very arguments they ridiculed just months ago. Democrats once wrote letters to Internet carriers suggesting that Fox News, the most popular cable news network, should be taken off the air in the name of combating disinformation. That was when the Democrats controlled the White House and were targeting conservatives.
Suddenly, now, disinformation is no longer a valid reason to censor and alleged government-corporate alliances are a menace to free speech.
After the tragedy in Utah, many on the left immediately tried to deflect responsibility for the murder by claiming that Kirk’s killer was actually a Trump supporter. On his show, Kimmel declared that “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.”
The far-left motivations of the alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, were already well known. His family confirmed that he had been radicalized with leftist ideology and cited pro-transgender views. This was not even a joke — it was just a false factual claim made by Kimmel on national television. And it came at a time when others were spreading this lie.
Despite stories to the contrary, many repeated the false claim. For example, Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe posted that “Kirk’s apparent assassin seems to have been ultra-MAGA, exploding the GOP/MAGA attempt to pin the blame for this tragedy on liberals.” (Previously, Tribe had claimed that the October 2023 massacre of Israelis by Hamas was a “wag-the-dog” operation to distract from corruption allegations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu).
The disinformation took hold on the Internet and social media. One poll showed that a plurality of Americans think Robinson was a conservative.
Call it assassination denial. It is all the rage. Former MSNBC and ESPN host Keith Olbermann wrote after Kimmel’s suspension, “Burn in hell, Sinclair. Alongside Charlie Kirk.” He added that “nothing [Kimmel] said was untrue.”
Curiously, some of these politicians and pundits are claiming that, yet again, democracy will die if Kimmel is not allowed to spread disinformation. There are reports that Kimmel was refusing to apologize and planned to double down on the attacks on conservatives in his next show. Faced with a revolt by affiliates and a potential exodus of advertisers, Disney’s head, Bob Iger, pulled the plug. (By the way, Kimmel’s ratings had been falling for years, and he had a smaller audience than the Colbert Show, which was itself discontinued due to loss of money).
The hypocrisy was pure comedy. For years, these same voices demanded censorship of individuals deemed to be spreading disinformation, misinformation, and malinformation. The last category was used by the Biden administration to target statements “based on fact, but used out of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate.”
At the same time, they mocked claims that corporations were working with the government to maintain this censorship system.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) ran on a pledge to impose new criminal and civil penalties for anyone spreading disinformation. Now, however, censorship is intolerable. Warren told CNN “we know there was federal interference … We saw the government step up and give a hard shove and then we saw a compliant company turn around and suspend Mr. Kimmel.” She added that his collaboration with corporations “truly undermines the whole premise of the First Amendment.”
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) called the suspension one of “the most blatant attacks on the free press in American history.” Schiff had previously demanded that Twitter suspend an array of users and “reduce the visibility” of blacklisted individuals — including a journalist who held opposing views. When Elon Musk reduced censorship at X, it was Schiff who warned Facebook not to follow his example by restoring free speech protections. Schiff threatened legislative action if the company moved to “alter or roll back certain misinformation policies.”
This week, Schiff is outraged by a company’s decision to suspend a host who refused to correct a false story he had spread.
For years, I appeared before these same leaders in Congress as they defended corporate censorship and dismissed allegations of collaboration with the government. I would not cancel Kimmel so long as his show was profitable. But I have long maintained that companies can limit the free speech of employees at work. I do not believe Kimmel should be censored on social media for spreading false information. At the same time, ABC does not have to lose money or viewers because an employee attacks others with vile, false claims.
Now Disney is accused of killing democracy itself, in league with Trump. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) attacked Trump for “trying to destroy our democracy” and acting like “many would-be despots.” Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) used Kimmel’s suspension as evidence that “fascism is not on the way, it is here.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) insisted that suspending a host for spreading false information about a murder was “North Korea-style stuff” while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) insisted that it is “what Putin would do.” It is a curious spin, since Putin and Kim Jong Un value media figures who spread false information — particularly about murders.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) went so far as to compare Kimmel to Thomas Paine, the author of Common Sense and “Penman of the revolution.”
So Kimmel is now a hero of democracy — all he had to do was spread disinformation. That makes this the funniest joke that Kimmel never told.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of the bestselling book “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
If FCC chair Brendan Carr had abstained from making any comment on Kimmel’s show, then the suspension of his show would be just one among many instances where conservative consumers hold businesses accountable for misinformation against conservatives or support of domestic terrorism. This was the line too far that made the significant consumer bloc of conservatives flex their power. We will not pay or watch those who want us dead, or lie and claim Charlie Kirk’s murderer was one of us.
Carr’s comments provided talking points to the Democrat Party.
Just like Democrats rioted, looted, committed arson, assaulted and murdered police for a year, even seizing entire city blocks for CHOP/CHAZ, arguably engaging in domestic terrorism, but then immediately called us the party of riots and threats to democracy because of one event, January 6, Democrats coordinated with the Obama and Biden administrations to censor and persecute conservatives for years, but claim we are actually the party of censorship.
It’s an absurd fallacy, but it works.
Turning Point USA? More like Hollow Point USA.
Never miss an opportunity to keep your stupidity to yourself.
Madman: yes, but I don’t think it is stupidity. I think it is bile coming up his esophagus from indigestible propaganda. Very sour, n’est ce pas?
“So Kimmel is now a hero of democracy — all he had to do was spread disinformation.”
Exactly what “disinformation” did Kimmel spread? He said (and remember the show was taped before we knew much of anything about the perp):
“”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.”
This is demonstrably true, and the same can be said of the Left who did exactly the same thing in reverse. I fail to see any disinformation here at all.
Meanwhile, Professor Turley blithely and dismissively compares this to Democrats going after Fox News for disinformation. As if a comedian making one statement during a monologue is in any way comparable to a major news organization that has deliberately made thousands of false statements for decades. There are multiple analyses of this. Google it. Heck, a Fox News affiliate station argued in court that they had the right to lie. I don’t remember Republicans objecting to this position.
Additionally, there is very good reason to hold news organizations to higher standards. If you read the foundational documents about the responsibilities of broadcasters who use our publicly-owned systems of communications (and, yes, this would include both broadcast and internet), you will see that it was once agreed throughout the political spectrum that news information is a special case that is nearly sacrosanct to a functional democracy. We, as a society, need good information. Democrats were right to object to the documented disinformation of Fox News.
I happen to be one of those people who agree with Republicans on many issues, and with Democrats with others. This piece by Professor Turley is distasteful.
TDS has overtaken your common sense.
Saw plenty of receipts in the article.
Google acknowledged government undue influence on it’s platform, too. From Democrats!
It doesn’t matter that the show was taped before the world knew that the killer was a trans loving weirdo! The producers of Kimmels show should have edited the show once the killers wacko beliefs and intentions were known. But they were too lazy to do that! Instead Kimmel knowingly spread hurtful and inappropriate outright lies which got him temporarily canned. With Sinclair and Nexstar holding to their beliefs and not airing this so-called comic’s show Kemmil will be dropping back to another pathetic podcast for something to do before you know it! Good riddance!
^^”This is demonstrably true…”
Merriam-Webster
“demonstrable”
adjective
1
: capable of being demonstrated
2
: apparent, evident
Well #1 didn’t happen.
And #2 requires the faith of one who believes that if a tree falls in the forest and one didn’t hear it, then it made no sound.
——————————–
–Oddball
“Take it easy Big Joe, some of these people got sensitive feelings.”
The Democrat (i.e., IslamoCommuNazi) Party political hacks are only making a bogus “attack against free speech” claim because Jimmy Kimmel is simply a paid presstitute for them and couldn’t tell a joke if his life depended on it.
Did these same IslamoCommuNazi Party political hacks condemn the cancelling of Rosanne Barr or Gina Carano, for example? Of course not. The IslamoCommuNazi Party hates free speech. They believe that only individuals espousing the positions of the IslamoCommuNazi Party should be allowed to live, let alone speak.
I notice that Jimmy Kimmel didn’t file a lawsuit against Disney and Chairman Carr, alleging violation of his 1st Amendment right to free speech.
Also odd, despite all the bogus broadcast media claims of a 1st Amendment issue, the news media simply repeated the 1A claim without actually looking into it. In today’s EU, that would qualify as disinformation.
Listen, the 1st A is government/citizen amendment cannot be used buy an employee against an employer. Do yo you get that?
Gawd, the people here are so Fing stoopid.
“Sinclair Broadcast Group on Monday evening announced they won’t broadcast Jimmy Kimmel Live! across its ABC affiliate stations after ABC caved.”
– Cristina Laila
Hillary was giving the other half of Trump’s followers the chance to leave the deplorables in their basket or at least toss them from the party and unify with Democrats in voting for her. She didn’t understand that Republicans vote for party because Democrats vote for policy.
In order to push for their party the Republicans not only accepted actual Nazi supporters, but embedded Nazi Germany symbols in their party convention to show they were a welcome part. Anything is better than putting less money towards healthcare and seeing after more people.
The TDS is strong in this one.
Maybe, but you never know for sure. Some weirdos crave attention so much they will do anything to get it, including pretending to be nutso Democrats. I am convinced that there is something in the water that is making Americans crazy.
FWIW, here is some great background music – to surf the net by.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heh6rB-FTTo&list=RDheh6rB-FTTo&start_radio=1&t=282s
Some weirdos like Floyd crave attention so much they he will do anything to get it,. There fixed it. You’re welcome.
Flyod has been on this blog commenting for the 15 hours. F I F T H T E E N H O U R S !
Guess TDS works inversely too.
So is the meth!
Healthcare is the biggest employer. It’s growing larger. Invest in any form of it.
Pre WWII ( feel free to correct me. It’s good being old) 50% of the population was agrarian. Today it’s 1%. You’re deeply involved in migrant labor when so few are affected by it now. Same for the lgbt especially trans when it’s a tiny minority less than 1%.
Children are an issue in the lgbt crisis. Children should not be involved. There is child abuse.
Building trades are future occupations, too. That’s growing. Private schools and work in those occupations are growing.
Service industries is growing. Clerks in merchandise is out. Of course anything AI related is growing.
So anon, healthcare is a place to put your taxes. The government will take care of you and your money. Free schools, free clinics, SS stipends for food and shelter.
As Freud pointed out a century ago, psychiatric patients who channel their own sins and malfeasance on those they hate the most are doing so in a form of self-confession to deal with their inner guilt.
Nothing says which party accepted actual Nazi supporters than the party whose kiddies on campus were starting New Hitler Youth Movement chapters to join with the House’s Anti-Semitic Socialist Sisterhood in supporting and promoting Hamas and those terrorists’ vow to finish the job of exterminating the Jews that Hitler started.
FDR had nazi working for him loser…
Eagles and the color red are not the exclusive purview of Neo Nazis.
It is the Left that has adopted many aspects of the Nazi Party. The Left marches through the streets, harassing Jews, openly calling for the genocide of Jews “from the river to the sea.” The Left supports the destruction of Israel and its replacement with yet another Muslim theocracy in its place. The Left opposes providing Israel with supplies for the Iron Dome, which prevents terrorists from killing them all. The Left ignores the genocide in Hamas’ charter, and their deliberate targeting of civilians, and calls Israel guilty of genocide, despite Israel being the only country that feeds its enemies during war, and warns civilians (and terrorists) to flee ahead of air strikes. Israel used micro targeting explosives in pagers to take out terrorists with minimal collateral damage, while Hamas, with the full support of an overwhelming majority of Palestinians in Gaza, deliberately aim for as many civilians as possible.
It is the Left that has normalized antisemitism. The Republican Party have proven to be staunch allies to Israel, and defenders of American Jews.
I think many of us may have missed an important point about the Jimmy Kimmel issue. Unless he personally writes his own material, the rubbish he spews is for the most part written by his staffers and then, I presumed, reviewed and approved by him before he performs his lines on the show. How dumb must he be to have allowed himself to be led into this mess.?
Or… because he has experienced writers and a legal department vetting the writing shows the comments were not what MAGA nuts said it was. They were just overly sensitive.
Exactly. Kimmel said Kirk was killed by a fellow MAGA. But the MAGA nuts were overly sensitive as they didn’t realize he meant Kirk was killed by a leftist.
This commenter has been on this blog since 7AM Monday. That’s 15 hours. 15 hours! See what TDS does.
😂
ATS – the video is available. the transcripts are available.
Kimmel said that Robinson was MAGA – he said that in the very first line of his open.
That is not only False but it was known false 24hrs before Kimmel went to air.
Further there was NEVER evidence that the assassin was MAGA – that was loony tunes hope against hope of left wing nuts.
“ ATS – the video is available. the transcripts are available.
Kimmel said that Robinson was MAGA – he said that in the very first line of his open.”
No, he never said that. You WANT it to have said that.
“ 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.”
Where did he say Robinson was MAGA? Obviously MAGA fans have some serious reading comprehension issues.
Kimmel said MAGA was desperate to characterize Robinson as NOT MAGA and doing everything they can to exploit the assassination to score political points.
None of that says Robinson was/is MAGA at all. The first line is all about MAGA trying to deflect any attachment to this kid. That is not claiming he is MAGA. It’s the most disingenious attempt at “interpreting” that first line. No english teacher would accept that sentence to mean what you WANT it to mean. Furhtermore, that is not even a lie as many claim to be. It’t literally what was happening with regard to MAGA. They were losing their mInds and furiously trying to point fingers at the left before any evidence or facts were presented. That’s the conspiracy theory nuttiness of the MAGA-verse that created the Epstein files scandal and obsession.
I will repeat this again, Kimmel was not claiming Robinson was MAGA. Nobody knew what the facts were. Kimmel was pointing out the fact MAGA was indeed working overtime to characterize him as something other than MAGA. Turns out, even the DOJ does not have enough evidence showing Robinson is even a left-wing nut as you would call it. He’s just one confused and frustrated kid who took issue with Kirk’s rhetoric and decided to take things into his hands. Kimmel’s Monologue did not say anything or claim Robinson was MAGA. You have be seriously delusional or have really, really bad reading comprehension issues to believe that is what Kimmel said.
Nothing Kimmel said even approaches what you want to believe he said.
It’s interesting that you or nobody else has made any effort to pinpoint exactly what words of Kimmel means he claimed Robinsoon was MAGA. It’s pure horsesh!t.
The only horsesht I see here is you george.
Lying has become a passion for you
george, he did not say it, he implied it so strongly as to present it as factual. you know that. everyone knows that.
“. . . he implied it . . .”
Exactly.
He used typical Leftist weasel language. That way, when he got busted (as he did), he could claim (as the coward he is): “But I didn’t mean that.”
People get edgy when there’s so much murder. I can’t understand it either.
Tylenol Bad, Snake Oil good.
But only snake oil produced in the trump (non)scientific labs.
Earlier, a commenter impersonated the name of another user on this website. The comment was removed. Impersonation of another user is a violation of the site’s long standing rules and can result in revocation of commenting privileges.
Thanks for your efforts Darren. We appreciate the rules being enforced.
*. BLS – UPCOMING occupations are in private schools.
It can’t be trusted because the net is in chaos. Anything is true or said because the net is fraud. On tv it was reported that Ford was moving its world headquarters to California. It moving 3 miles away from Dearborn.
Thanks PT. Do an honest good job at whatever occupation you have and with good will. The best things are right at home with your beloved family.
Cheers!
*. Christianity has various interpretations. They vary widely but each one has a hell pit. Pits were the places for prisoners 2000 years ago and imaginable they were hells.
Today, people know they haven’t a chance of heaven so they bear it and become rich men in hell. That’s doable.
The old saying: I’d rather be a doorman in heaven than a rich man in hell.
(It goes something
like that)
It’s fated. At your birth all is known even the hairs on your head are counted Btw patterned, too, like fingerprints. Genetics. The heroes fight and like Sisyphus pushing the Boulder up a hill it falls back again over and over.
We can only try in the face of fate. DJT has a virtue of industriousness. No one can deny that. Prayers are heard.
TP has made 400 million since its beginning. Kirk went to gatherings of rich men and foundations looking for donations. They invested in him. I read that. Who knows if it’s true and his salary was under 400 thousand per year. I read that, too. Citations? Can’t recall maybe Forbes.
That’s my take on it.
^^^*. Fate has allowed an understanding of the reason there’s so many people who seem to never find their true love. There’s a reason. No one was made for them. Why? Because they shouldn’t have been born at all.
Someone on this blog once said to me that said the aaddest things. Can’t recall who. Probably true.
There’s more than 3 worlds. Most Christians think there’s 3. Heaven, earth and hell. There are many more. We’ve heard everyone has flaws? Only in this world. The next one up only 60% have flaws. Then 25 percent on up and on the down side the flaws magnify. 😂
What luck.
Oprah Jimfrey
“The Funniest Joke Jimmy Kimmel Never Told”
– Professor Turley
ABC’s ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ hemorrhaged viewers over past decade, lost 72% among key demo – ABC ‘indefinitely’ preempted Jimmy Kimmel’s program following Charlie Kirk remarks
“Jimmy Kimmel Live” has seen its ratings drop significantly over the past decade, as the program averaged 2.4 million viewers in 2015 and has been trending downward ever since. Kimmel’s program averaged 2.2 million in 2016 and 2017, fell to 2.1 million in 2018, dropped to 1.9 million in 2019 and sunk to 1.8 million in 2020. By 2021, “Jimmy Kimmel Live” managed only 1.5 million nightly viewers.
Kimmel’s 2025 average viewership of 1.6 million is down 37% compared to 2015 totals.
However, the decline is even more significant among the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults, ages 25-54.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live” averaged nearly 1 million viewers among the critical demo in 2015 but plummeted to only 261,000 in 2025. The ABC late-night program shed a staggering 72% of the audience that helps pay the bills over the past decade.
– Brian Flood, 9/18/25
That must be why Disney has to increase the entry price for entry to Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Just imagine the mindset of Disney moguls that try to level their balance sheet off the backs of young families with children.
They will encounter price resistance and lose money. I for one will celebrate when Disney goes bankrupt. It is an evil corporation.
Is having First Amendment rights contingent on statistics?