Under Fire

Jimmy Kimmel made a controversial remark about the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk. You may agree with him, you may not. That’s the whole point of free speech: it protects the things you disagree with just as much as the things you cheer. But what happened next should alarm every American who cares about democracy.

The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, publicly threatened ABC — suggesting the agency might take regulatory action — unless the network took action against Kimmel. Hours later, ABC pulled Kimmel’s show indefinitely. Nexstar, one of the largest station owners in the country, announced it would stop airing him altogether, citing Carr’s remarks.

This isn’t just a network decision. This is the government leaning on private companies to silence speech. And it’s happening not because Kimmel swore on air, not because he violated broadcasting rules, but because he expressed a political opinion about a tragedy. That is textbook government intimidation.

We’ve seen this playbook before. Authoritarian governments pressure media outlets by dangling regulatory power over their heads. Threaten their licenses. Slow-walk their mergers. Suddenly “voluntary” censorship doesn’t look voluntary at all. Nexstar, for example, is pursuing a $6.2 billion merger that must pass FCC scrutiny. Do we really believe its decision to drop Kimmel had nothing to do with keeping regulators happy?

The irony is staggering. The same administration that pardoned violent January 6 rioters now calls late-night monologues a threat to the republic. Stephen Miller thunders about “domestic terrorists” on the left. JD Vance urges citizens to call bosses and get critics fired. And now the FCC chairman is openly using government muscle to punish a comedian for a line in his monologue.

Let’s be clear: Charlie Kirk’s assassination was horrific. It deserves sober reflection, not celebration. But policing what late-night hosts say about it is not the job of the federal government. Once regulators start deciding which political jokes are “acceptable,” free speech isn’t free. It’s rationed.

The precedent is terrifying. Today it’s Jimmy Kimmel. Tomorrow it could be Stephen Colbert, or John Oliver, or any broadcaster who criticizes those in power. Eventually, they’ll get to people like me. The chilling effect is already here: networks will think twice before airing anything that might offend the FCC, not because of law, but because of fear.

This is not about whether you like Jimmy Kimmel. It’s about whether you like living in a country where comedians, journalists, or ordinary citizens can speak freely without worrying the government will pull the plug. The First Amendment was designed to prevent exactly this kind of abuse.

If Carr and the administration believe in the Constitution they swear to uphold, they should retract these threats immediately. If ABC values its role as a broadcaster in a free society, it should put Kimmel back on the air. Because if political speech can be regulated by intimidation, we are not defending democracy — we are dismantling it.