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[The firing of Jimmy Kimmel]
X ^ | September 18, 2025 | Robert P. George

Posted on 09/18/2025 7:42:07 AM PDT by karpov

What Jimmy Kimmel suggested to be true --namely, that Charlie Kirk's assassin was MAGA--was false. Did he know when he said it that it was false? I don't know. Did he have reason to know it was false? Yes, but ideology warps people's heads. In any case, we should not want public officials pressuring companies to fire or discipline people for their First Amendment protected speech--even when it's false. It is simply too great a threat to civil liberty. Democrats and liberals are saying that now, but (with honorable exceptions) they have no credibility. When the shoe was on the other foot during the Biden years, they were not ardent free speech defenders. They did not raise their voices against government officers pressuring media outlets and platforms. Too often, they allowed themselves to become apologists for it. Shame on them. But their hypocrisy doesn't justify a complacent attitude today from any of us when government officials pressure media outlets on speech issues. Those of us who did defend First Amendment principles during the Biden years need to be no less outspoken in defending them today. We mustn't be hypocrites. It's bad when media disseminate falsehoods, but the way to fight back is by telling the truth--exercising our own free speech rights to condemn the lying and the liars. It's simply unsafe to trust government officials with the power to, in effect, regulate First Amendment protected speech. It is power too easily abused.

(Excerpt) Read more at x.com ...


TOPICS: Politics
KEYWORDS: abc; jimmykimmel; kimmel; media
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To: karpov

Kimmel’s ratings have been going down for years. He is a has-been hack.

Maybe they just found a good excuse for doing what they’ve been wanting to do for a long time.


21 posted on 09/18/2025 7:55:21 AM PDT by fwdude (Why is there a "far/radical right," but damned if they'll admit that there is a far/radical left?)
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To: karpov

When it comes to licenses, there is no first amendment. It’s why real estate agents can’t say,in their listings, “family room”, or “homogenous neighborhood”.

I think that is wrong, but here we are.

It’s just like scientists and teachers getting blacklisted for being anti-AGW, etc. It’s the world we live in.


22 posted on 09/18/2025 7:58:41 AM PDT by cuban leaf (2024 is going to be one for the history books, like 1939. And 2025 will be more so, like 1940-1945.)
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To: catnipman

+1


23 posted on 09/18/2025 7:58:44 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: Opinionated Blowhard

A lot of people including Trump needs to restrain their commenting and follow Napoleon’s maximum - When the enemy is making a mistake don’t interfere!


24 posted on 09/18/2025 7:58:46 AM PDT by Reily
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To: karpov

Kimmel celebrating the firing of Tucker Carlson at Fox:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1318626286466707


25 posted on 09/18/2025 7:59:31 AM PDT by God luvs America
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To: Mariner

The first amendment doesn’t apply to how businesses conduct themselves, nor does it protect against libel.


26 posted on 09/18/2025 7:59:31 AM PDT by kosciusko51
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To: karpov

Kimmel was fired for lack of talent, and ratings.
Pissing off even more of his miniscule “fans” with the Kirk lie was the last straw not the first one.


27 posted on 09/18/2025 8:00:00 AM PDT by John 3_19-21 (The covid 19 "pandemic" was both an IQ, and a civics test.)
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To: karpov
we should not want public officials pressuring companies to fire or discipline people for their First Amendment protected speech--even when it's false.

The 1st Amendment right protects people from being thrown into jail for their speech. Employers still have the right to expect decent behavior from their employees.

28 posted on 09/18/2025 8:01:04 AM PDT by libertylover (The HBM (Has Been Media) is almost all AGENDA-DRIVEN, not-truth driven.)
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To: karpov

Nonsense. Free speech has consequences. If you say something wrong, it needs correction. Defamation is punishable. Incitement is punishable.


29 posted on 09/18/2025 8:01:04 AM PDT by Whatever Works
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To: karpov

we should not want public officials pressuring companies to fire or discipline people for their First Amendment protected speech—even when it’s false.
~~~~~

Wrong. FCC licenses require licensees to operate “in the public interest” in order to broadcast in the public TV band. The Robinson prosecutor had already announced that Robinson had committed the murder with a left-wing motive. So Kimmel ascribing the murder to a MAGA motive was NOT just “false”. It was a knowing lie told to demonize his political enemies. That’s against the public interest.

ABC’s largest group of local licensees had already cancelled Kimmel, so ABC’s cancellation was just the final nail in Kimmel’s coffin.


30 posted on 09/18/2025 8:03:58 AM PDT by nagant
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To: karpov

I don’t see this as a free speech issue.

This is about using the public airwaves for spewing disinformation and propaganda to CONTINOUSLY attack not just Trump but more importantly over half the electorate who supported him.

This is NOT about this mean-spirited POS but about Big Media and the corporations which sponsor its content ABUSING the fairness doctrine.

Colbert PROVED that supporting him was a TERRIBLE business practice as he was losing at least 40 millions dollars a year.

Its board of directors should not have allowed this nothing burger to flush millions down the toilet every year with content that did nothing more than to satisfy elitist snobs’ desire to demean the American values of a working middle class which has been the backbone of what has made America great.


31 posted on 09/18/2025 8:08:43 AM PDT by Biblebelter
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To: karpov

ABC can fire him for whatever reason they want.

But the government should not be involved in pressuring ABC to fire him.


32 posted on 09/18/2025 8:08:58 AM PDT by JSM_Liberty
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To: Mariner

Kimmel was not arrested by any government officer. His 1st amendment rights are unbroken.


33 posted on 09/18/2025 8:10:31 AM PDT by KobraKai
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To: Kleon

I heard much of Kimmel’s monologue this morning. It was neither funny or entertaining. And I’m no prude, my taste in humor leans toward Sam Kinison, Rodney Dangerfield, Richard Pryor, and Don Rickles. Jimmy Kimmel and Colbert have never been comedians in my view.


34 posted on 09/18/2025 8:10:40 AM PDT by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Gonzales! Come and Take It!)
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To: Mariner

Remember Gina Carano was fired by the Rat over her opinion but the left cheered that.


35 posted on 09/18/2025 8:11:26 AM PDT by The Louiswu (USA FIRST...USA FOREVER)
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To: Night Hides Not

I could even enjoy leftist comedians, like the late Bill Hicks, because at least he was funny.


36 posted on 09/18/2025 8:11:56 AM PDT by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: Mariner
“Those of us who did defend First Amendment principles during the Biden years need to be no less outspoken in defending them today.”

Wholeheartedly agree.

Government was limiting free speech during the Biden years. In this case, it is Disney's First Amendment right to jettison Kimmel for saying something they don't like on their network.

And it's within our First Amendment right to call for Disney to fire Kimmel.

37 posted on 09/18/2025 8:13:55 AM PDT by FreeReign
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To: karpov

s/b “The Indefinite Suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s TV Show”


38 posted on 09/18/2025 8:14:00 AM PDT by bigbob (We are all Charlie Kirk now)
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To: Kleon; pookie18
(Typo fixed)


39 posted on 09/18/2025 8:14:09 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: FreeReign

“And it’s within our First Amendment right to call for Disney to fire Kimmel. “

But should the government be involved in calling for Disney to fire Kimmel?


40 posted on 09/18/2025 8:16:12 AM PDT by JSM_Liberty
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