PHOTO: Cancelled late-night host Jimmy Kimmel ••• [Scroll down the right column for Rich Corbett's 'A Call for Responsible Political Discourse,' impetus for Stephen Macaulay's and Kirk Bell's counterpoints. Scroll down the left column for Hugh Hansen's response.]
By Todd Lassa
MAGA cancel culture came to ABC-TV Wednesday as it put Jimmy Kimmel’s (above) late night show on indefinite hold over the host’s monologue about the fatal shooting of Turning Point USA co-founder and CEO Charlie Kirk. The hold came after Nexstar Media Group, which seeks Federal Communications Commission approval to buy communications company Tegna for $6.2 billion, said it would drop Jimmy Kimmel Live! from its 32 ABC-TV affiliates, according to USA Today.
"We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it," Kimmel said on his show Monday. He went on to play video of Trump responding to a reporter’s question about how he is holding up in light of Kirk’s death by quickly pivoting to an update on construction of his White House ballroom.
"He's at the fourth stage of grief, construction,” Kimmel said. “Demolition. Construction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish. OK? And it didn't just happen once."
That was enough for FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to call for Kimmel’s cancellation while on pundit Benny Johnson’s YouTube show Wednesday, saying; “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
CBS announced cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in July ahead of parent company Paramount’s impending merger with Skydance. Trump has Truth Socialed that he wants to see The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Myers, both on NBC, gone next.
It has been that sort of week in reaction to the tragic, fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, who was known for his debate skills. Kirk lured young people on the left into vigorous discussion and argument with the catchphrase, “Prove me wrong.”
Since Kirk’s death, any comments about him that are less than reverential have become targets of the MAGA-right.
“Free-speech absolutist” and future Tesla trillionaire Elon Musk last Friday pressed Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella about Microsoft Blizzard game developers “trashing” Kirk. Nadella later replied that Microsoft was “reviewing each individual situation” of a “small subset” of Blizzard developers who had criticized Kirk’s views, which included his belief that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 should not be law.
On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that visa revocations are “underway” for non-US citizens found to be “celebrating” Kirk’s killing, Axios reported.
NPR over the last weekend reported it had counted more than 30 people across the US who have been “fired, put on leave, investigated or faced calls to resign because of social media posts criticizing Charlie Kirk, or expressing schadenfreude” over his assassination.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said on a podcast Monday the Justice Department would “absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech,” but later clarified her comments, telling Axios such speech would not be prosecuted unless it incites violence.
Paramount’s Comedy Central on September 11 said it was pulling the August 6 “Got a Nut” episode of South Park, in which Eric Cartman mimics Kirk’s mannerisms, including that signature “Prove me wrong” phrase (per Denver’s Westword).
This all adds up to what The Atlantic’s David A. Graham calls, in a headline: “The Irony of Using Charlie Kirk’s Murder to Silence Debate.”
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We are not about to stifle debate here. As a civil media site, we stipulate you do not have to like Charlie Kirk’s politics to understand the tragedy behind his murder.
Contributing Pundit Rich Corbett agrees with Kirk’s politics and in the right column he argues it is time for responsible political discourse. His fellow contributing pundit, Hugh Hansen, is skeptical responsibility can happen in today’s political climate.
There is room in both columns for your views on the matter. Become a citizen pundit and help us build healthy, civil dialogue on such matters. Email your COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.