Posted on 09/20/2025 11:19:03 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
The hysteria merchants are in high gear again as they respond to the news that Jimmy Kimmel’s ABC talk show has been “preempted indefinitely.”
Kimmel got the gate from ABC because of his reckless remarks about the death of Charlie Kirk. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called the decision “despicable” and undemocratic, asserting that Kimmel has “the right to free speech.”
Illinois governor and obvious presidential candidate JB Pritzker said that ABC’s decision was “an attack on free speech and cannot be allowed to stand.” Schumer, Pritzker and the many other supposed champions of free speech, of course, blame President Trump and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr for Kimmel’s fate, both of whom have publicly railed against the late-night “comedian.”
But Kimmel’s show wasn’t suspended because of Trump, Carr or the Big Bad Wolf. It was suspended because ABC and parent company Disney are in the business of generating audiences and advertising revenue.
The corporate bigshots have decided that Kimmel can no longer deliver viewers and generate commercial dollars to their satisfaction. The nonsensical comment Kimmel made about Kirk was likely one straw too many even for Disney’s broad corporate shoulders.
Big media corporation executives have to keep their ears to the ground to assess what broad audiences are willing to tolerate. Kimmel’s ratings were in steep decline already, and ABC would have surely looked past the blunder if there was any sense that he could still generate an audience. Major television group owners Nexstar and Sinclair have a number of ABC affiliates; when they announced they would no longer carry Kimmel’s program, Disney decided it was more important to keep affiliate owners happy than...
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Free speech has consequences. You can say what you want but be prepared for the response. It’s that “you can’t yell fire in a crowded theater” thing but you’re free to say it.
RE : Jimmy Kimmel’s ABC ouster is not the end of free speech
Kimmel is even MORE FREE to speak his mind out now that he doesn’t have his show. Whether he will have millions of people to hear him is another matter.
The actual USSC case you think you are quoting said “you cannot cry ‘fire’ FALSELY in a crowded theater”.
Its the end of an unfunny persons run on a tired late night show…. That is all.
Follow the money. Always.
He was fired because his show was losing money.
If it was making $, does anyone here think ABC would terminate the show?
Employers are also free to fire people who threaten their bottom line.
The ouster of little Jimmy is the restoration of free speech.
The problem here as I understand it is that he said what he said on broadcast TV. The public owns the airwaves. This wasn’t cable or social media. The standards are higher. The other issues are the affiliates have said they won’t air his show. Without the affiliate advertising revenue what is the show’s owner supposed to do?
I’ll loan Kimmel a soap box so he can go to a public square and use it.
One of the stupidest people who ever lived was Saul Alinsky.
Those who think they can use our Constitution against us are just as stupid.
His mentee Hillary Clinton would give him a run-for-his-money in that regard.
stupid, but very effective ... like Gramsci ...
Jimmy Kimmel has a right to free speech.
But he does not have a constitutional right to a TV show on a major network.
It’s hard to believe sometimes, what subjects enrage certain people.
To listen to these people, you would swear that ABC is required to provide a show for the likes of JIMMY KIMMEL.
Ditto Colbert on CBS. although CBS inexplicably is allowing COLBERT to have a farewell tour until next year.
Affiliate Relations took down Kimmel. That’s it.
And that’s the key. If you have conservative station owners who find the smut is offensive, they will purge it.
In the 1980’s, the local ABC affiliate refused to show the Saturday special or cartoons in the 10 and 11 slot in order to show syndicated programming, most notably Jim Crockett NWA fake wrestling.
Affiliates were known to skip noon programming.
Back when we had Columbia and Charleston NBC affiliates here, the Columbia station refused to show the Ryder Cup at Kiawah Island. They chose SEC football, making them ineligible for broadcast. Most areas in the Midlands ended up not watching the Ryder Cup in their own state. It didn’t matter they offended NBC, or Gov. Campbell. The Charleston station (which went to ABC in 1996, and dropped in what Mayor Cheatham found was a case of unfaithful ABC and CBS affiliates at the time) showed the matches (proven because the Columbia CBS affiliate was replacing network shows with UPN shows on weekends with a plan to ditch CBS for UPN, which never happened, and the ABC affiliate replaced network shows with ACC Basketball all the time). Mayor Cheatham, who wrote a golf column in the local newspaper, was angry at the removal of golf for ACC basketball, especially with tournaments such as the Ryder Cup, Bob Hope (now The American Express), Tournament of Champions (now The Sentry), and other events being replaced by the ACC.
Don’t forget many times when a station’s programming would be replaced by Billy Graham.
And even now the local Sinclair Fox affiliate would block network coverage of Major League Baseball for live coverage of a beauty pageant where the winner goes to Miss America.
WJBF, which is now a Nexstar station, in Augusta, GA was one of the first ABC stations in 1993 to refuse broadcast of the raunchy 10 PM “NYPD Blue,” and didn’t broadcast it during most of its run. So they have been the station in the past that protested NYPD Blue. Their history with affiliate relations shows the station manager has power.
And if you show local programming, you collect more advertising revenue because you don’t have to share it with the network.
The reason studios prefer streaming over networks is the inappropriate material that can be broadcast.
When Howard Stern and the radio station that hosted him were fined millions of dollars for what he said on the radio I didn’t see liberals complaining. Funny how that works.
-SB
😲 WOW The Hill got something right?
Let me look out of the window 🪟🪟 for Flying Pigs 🐖🐖🐖🐖🐖🐖🐖🐖
👀👀👀👀👀
Everyone forgets, the local affiliates SEND a big check to ABC for programing to drop their commercials into while allowing a few national bits to flow unmolested from the headend.
The viewers habbit for consumption are the product your affliate sells to advertisers, the consumption of programing is a how to get a ratings metric to dump into a adverting agreement. These big checks to ABC Network are the results of Bobs Car Wash in Big Bend choosing to buy the All day All night package that covers the late, later, and last shows. ABC Sports does not have anything that sells in the midwest, that would not be on a streamer if it was not carried localy. For a very few dollars less, the affiliate can just take the prime time feed and put Mash reruns on at 10:30.
Their time is short.
You can’t call that effective.
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