Our great national censorship nightmare is over – but only for about three-quarters of the ABC stations in America.
Jimmy kimmel was back on the air Tuesday night after Disney, the parent company of ABC, reversed its decision last week to suspend his talk show over comments he made about MAGA supporters’ response to the killing of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk. That initial pause came after increasing pressure from the Trump administration and two TV station groups – Nexstar and the conservative-leaning Sinclair – which said last week thay would not air Kimmel’s show.
Whether or not you like Kimmel, his show’s return Tuesday night was a triumph for a few reasons. First, it was a victory for free speech: the return of a show that was taken off the airwaves in part because of oblique threats from the Trump-era Federal Communications Commission’s leadership, and the rebuffing of what my colleague Zack Beauchamp has called a “climate of fear and censorship” in the wake of Kirk’s death, championed by conservative activists.
Second,it was also a new kind of (partial) victory for liberals and their resistance efforts in the second Trump term.
Led by celebrities, podcasters, influencers, and the grassroots – as opposed to any institutions, corporations, billionaires, or political parties – it managed to get a major corporation to resist Trump and restore kimmel, even though his show is only returning to about three-quarters of the ABC-affiliated TV stations in America.
While a variety of voices pushed back against this attempt at corporate censorship, Nexstar and Sinclair continued to boycott Kimmel’s show last night – airing local news segments rather of Jimmy Kimmel Live! in the nearly 25 percent of local ABC affiliates across the country that they own. They don’t show signs of reversing course yet. And it’s not clear what mechanism – if any – Kimmel supporters have to influence either corporation to change its policy for now.
Kimmel goes “full resistance”
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Kimmel’s Disney Standoff Highlights a Troubling Trend: Individual Backlash vs. Corporate Acquiescence
Jimmy Kimmel’s recent dispute with Disney, stemming from pressure to alter or cancel his show following critical comments about former President Trump, has sparked a larger conversation about censorship, corporate responsibility, and the power of individual action. while Kimmel ultimately secured a continuation of his show, the situation revealed a worrying pattern: major entities frequently enough yield to pressure, while impactful resistance frequently originates from individuals.
kimmel noted much of this during his monologue – citing pressure on affiliates in cities to not air his show and the slippery slope it might create in the future: “Should the government be able to regulate which podcasts the cellphone companies and WiFi providers are allowed to let you download to make sure they serve the public interest?” His studio audience responded with a resounding “No!” Kimmel, and the decision-makers at the Mickey Mouse company might be hoping the rest of the country will keep feeling this way – but who knows if this fracas will be remembered beyond being just one more Trump scandal.
As the first few months of the second Trump term have shown, other major companies, law firms, universities, and organizations have acquiesced in the face of confrontation with Trump. And massive street protests have been absent.
That’s part of what makes this moment of individual-led backlash seem so noteworthy – and one reason why it’s not clear that it can be replicated. Kimmel raised this specter last night too, noting Trump’s apparent desire to go after late-night comics specifically will probably continue.
“Somehow, [he was able to] squeeze Colbert out of CBS, then he turned his sights on me, and now he’s openly rooting for NBC to fire jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers and the hundreds of Americans who work for their shows,” he said. “And I hope that if that happens, or if there’s even any hint of that happening, you will be 10 times as loud as you were this week. We have to speak out against this. He is not stopping. And it’s not just comedy. he’s gunning for our journalists too.”
Celebrities, influencers, and everyday people forced Disney’s hand
In the week or so that Kimmel was off the air, the strongest efforts to push back against Trump and conservative efforts to censor Kimmel did not come from corporations, the stock market, or a major political institution. Rather, it was primarily driven by “talent” – actors, comedians, podcasters, and other individuals with a built-in audience and a public platform.
It came from the hundreds of Hollywood movie stars, comedians
Even Some MAGA Sympathizers Are Upset About Jimmy Kimmel’s Suspension
Even some of the podcasters and new media stars that often sympathize with MAGA voiced concerns over the last week.”Manosphere” influencers like the comedians Andrew Schulz and Akaash Singh spent time on their show and on social media explaining why conservatives should be outraged. Meanwhile, media personalities at the sports and pop culture brand Barstool Sports debated each other on whether the suspension was, in fact, government censorship.
And though it took him some time to record an episode and he didn’t call out Trump by name, Joe Rogan, probably the most vocal “free speech” defender of the podcasting world, ultimately criticized the FCC, too, and warned those cheering Kimmel’s silencing that the same powers could be used on them in the future.
Individually, each of these statements, posts, and actions reached very different segments of the American public; in today’s siloed media and information ecosystem, perhaps none of them share an audience. But combined,they helped to spur on a tidal wave of pressure and criticism on Disney,its leadership,and its bottom line. Many of the same celebrities helped to encourage a boycott.