<\/p>\n
Democrats were finally outraged this week. No, it was not about the murder of Charlie Kirk, but rather the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s late-night comedy show.<\/p>\n
Democratic leaders are taking to the airways to denounce the decision to take Kimmel off the air after he spread disinformation about Charlie Kirk\u2019s alleged killer.<\/p>\n
The same leaders and pundits who have for years fought for censorship in the name of combating disinformation are now making the very arguments they ridiculed just months ago. Democrats once\u00a0wrote letters<\/a>\u00a0to Internet carriers suggesting that Fox News, the most popular cable news network, should be taken off the air in the name of combating disinformation. That was when the Democrats controlled the White House and were targeting conservatives.<\/p>\n Suddenly, now, disinformation is no longer a valid reason to censor and alleged government-corporate alliances are a menace to free speech.<\/p>\n After the tragedy in Utah, many on the left immediately tried to deflect responsibility for the murder by claiming that Kirk\u2019s killer was actually a Trump supporter. On his show, Kimmel declared that \u201cthe MAGA Gang\u201d was \u201cdesperately 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.\u201d<\/p>\n The far-left motivations of the alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, were already well known. His family confirmed that he had been radicalized with leftist ideology and cited pro-transgender views. This was not even a joke \u2014 it was just a false factual claim made by Kimmel on national television. And it came at a time when others were spreading this lie.<\/p>\n Despite stories to the contrary,\u00a0 many repeated the false claim. For example,\u00a0Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe posted<\/a>\u00a0that\u00a0\u201cKirk\u2019s apparent assassin seems to have been ultra-MAGA, exploding the GOP\/MAGA attempt to pin the blame for this tragedy on liberals.\u201d (Previously, Tribe\u00a0had claimed<\/a>\u00a0that the October 2023 massacre of Israelis by Hamas was a \u201cwag-the-dog\u201d operation to distract from corruption allegations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu).<\/p>\n The disinformation took hold on the Internet and social media. One poll\u00a0showed<\/a>\u00a0that a plurality of Americans think Robinson was a conservative.<\/p>\n Call it assassination denial. It is all the rage. Former MSNBC and ESPN host Keith Olbermann wrote<\/a> after Kimmel\u2019s suspension, \u201cBurn in hell, Sinclair. Alongside Charlie Kirk.\u201d He added that \u201cnothing [Kimmel] said was untrue.\u201d<\/p>\n Curiously, some of these politicians and pundits are claiming that, yet again, democracy will die if Kimmel is not allowed to spread disinformation. There are reports that Kimmel was refusing to apologize and planned to double down on the attacks on conservatives in his next show. Faced with a revolt by affiliates and a potential exodus of advertisers,\u00a0Disney\u2019s head, Bob Iger, pulled the plug<\/a>. (By the way, Kimmel\u2019s ratings had been falling for years, and he had a smaller audience than the Colbert Show<\/a>, which was itself discontinued due to loss of money).<\/p>\n The hypocrisy was pure comedy. For years, these same voices demanded censorship of individuals deemed to be spreading disinformation, misinformation, and malinformation.\u00a0The last category was used by the Biden administration to target statements \u201cbased on fact, but used out of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate.\u201d<\/p>\n At the same time, they mocked claims that corporations were working with the government to maintain this censorship system.<\/p>\n Sen. Elizabeth Warren\u00a0(D-Mass.) ran on a pledge<\/a>\u00a0to impose new criminal and civil penalties for anyone spreading disinformation. Now, however, censorship is intolerable.\u00a0Warren\u00a0told celebrity.land<\/a>\u00a0\u201cwe know there was federal interference \u2026 We saw the government step up and give a hard shove and then we saw a compliant company turn around and suspend Mr. Kimmel.\u201d She added that his collaboration with corporations \u201ctruly undermines the whole premise of the First Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) called the suspension one of\u00a0\u201cthe most blatant attacks on the free press in American history.\u201d Schiff had previously demanded\u00a0that\u00a0Twitter suspend an array of users<\/a>\u00a0and \u201creduce the visibility\u201d of blacklisted individuals \u2014 including a journalist who held opposing views. When Elon Musk reduced censorship at X, it was Schiff who\u00a0warned<\/a>\u00a0Facebook not to follow his example by restoring free speech protections. Schiff threatened legislative action if the company moved to \u201calter or roll back certain misinformation policies.\u201d<\/p>\n This week, Schiff is outraged by a company\u2019s decision to suspend a host who refused to correct a false story he had spread.<\/p>\n For years, I appeared before these same leaders in Congress as they defended corporate censorship and dismissed allegations of collaboration with the government. I would not cancel Kimmel so long as his show was profitable. But I have long maintained that companies can limit the free speech of employees at work. I do not believe Kimmel should be censored on social media for spreading false information. At the same time, ABC does not have to lose money or viewers because an employee attacks others with vile, false claims.<\/p>\n Now Disney is accused of killing democracy itself, in league with Trump. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) attacked Trump for \u201ctrying to destroy our democracy\u201d and acting like \u201cmany would-be despots.\u201d Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) used Kimmel\u2019s suspension as evidence that \u201cfascism is not on the way, it is here.\u201d<\/p>\n Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) insisted that suspending a host for spreading false information about a murder was \u201cNorth Korea-style stuff\u201d while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) insisted that it is \u201cwhat Putin would do.\u201d It is a curious spin, since Putin and Kim Jong Un value media figures who spread false information \u2014 particularly about murders.<\/p>\n Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) went so far as to compare Kimmel to Thomas Paine, the author of Common Sense and \u201cPenman of the revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n So Kimmel is now a hero of democracy \u2014 all he had to do was spread disinformation. That makes this the funniest joke that Kimmel never told.<\/p>\n Jonathan\u00a0Turley\u00a0is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of the bestselling book \u201cThe Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage<\/a>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. 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