Yesterday was the observation of Constitution Day in America. No one really noticed. Or worse, particularly cared. And our current DC leadership shows that we might just as soon do away with the day, and the reason for it.
Reminder. Americans take our First Amendment rights seriously. In April 2025, a Pew poll showed that 92% of Americans thought it was important “that the media can report the news without state/government censorship.”
Yesterday ABC celebrated our First Amendment rights under the Constitution by cancelling Jimmy Kimmel.
The largest operator of ABC affiliates, Nexstar—which needs FCC approval for a $6.2B merger—said it would stop airing Kimmel’s show from its stations. Then ABC suspended Kimmel’s show.
On the podcast of right-wing influencer Benny Johnson on Wednesday, FCC chair Brendan Carr said that Kimmel’s words (used as the justification for cancellation) were part of a “concerted effort to try to lie to the American people” and that the FCC was “going to have remedies that we can look at.”
Yes. Please look at Fox News. It should be easy. Just a few days ago Brian Kilmeade, who recently called for killing homeless Americans by “involuntary lethal injection,” is still employed.
P.S. Benny Johnson, the podcaster on whose show Carr threatened Kimmel, was one of the influencers Russian state media funded to spread propaganda before the 2024 election.
The Writers Guild of America posted: “The right to speak our minds and to disagree with each other—to disturb, even—is at the heart of what it means to be a free people…. If free speech applied only to ideas we like, we needn’t have bothered to write it into the Constitution…. Shame on those in government who forget this founding truth.”
On CNN, David Frum called it “state repression.”
Tucker Carlson said: “[I]f they can tell you what to say, they’re telling you what to think. There is nothing they can’t do to you because they don’t consider you human…. A free man has a right to say what he believes.”
J.B. Pritzker posted: “This is an attack on free speech and cannot be allowed to stand. All elected officials need to speak up and push back on this undemocratic act.”
He pointed out that in 2023, Brendan Carr himself posted: “Free speech is…the check on government control. That is why censorship is the authoritarian’s dream.”
Senator Chris Murphy warned of the campaign to “use the murder of Charlie Kirk as a pretext to use the power of the White House to wipe out Trump’s critics and his political opponents."
Confirming this, Trump posted: “Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what needed to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!! President DJT”
What will you do about this direct attack on free speech?
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