Following outrage over comedian Jimmy Kimmel's innocuous remarks about the shooting death of Charlie Kirk, the network caved, and the late-night comedian's show will now be preempted “indefinitely." Cancel culture is real from the right. Donald Trump took to Truth Social to take a victory lap, then set his target on two more comedians, who have hurt his fragile feelings.
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom slammed the move, calling it "dangerous."
"Buying and controlling media platforms," Newsom wrote on Xitter. "Firing commentators. Canceling shows."
"These aren’t coincidences," he added. "It’s coordinated. And it’s dangerous. The @GOP does not believe in free speech. They are censoring you in real time."
He's right. They are censoring us in real time, and MAGA is cheering it on. If you're a Fox News personality, it's OK to suggest killing unhoused Americans, including Veterans, as Brian Killpeople did last week. Kilmeade later offered a shitty apology over his thoroughly appalling remarks. But there are no takey-backsies when you call for killing vulnerable citizens.
And yet, FCC Chair Brendan Carr threatened to take away ABC’s broadcasting license with the false claim that Kimmel had “deliberately [misled] the public by claiming Charlie Kirk’s assassin was a MAGA Conservative.” That's not what Kimmel said, though, and Carr knows it.
As Newsom suggested, these are deliberate moves. This is a five-alarm fire, which shouldn't be confused with all the other five-alarm fires set off by the Trump administration. We're not headed into fascism. We're there already, and it's going to get worse.
Also, for the people in the back, release the Epstein Files.
