<\/p>\n
Our great national censorship nightmare is over \u2014 but only for about three-quarters of the ABC stations in America.<\/p>\n
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\u2019 response to<\/a> the killing of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk. That initial pause came after increasing pressure from the Trump administration and two TV station groups<\/a> \u2014 Nexstar and the conservative-leaning Sinclair \u2014 which said last week they would not air Kimmel\u2019s show.<\/p>\n Whether or not you like Kimmel, his show\u2019s 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\u2019s leadership, and the rebuffing of what my colleague Zack Beauchamp has called a \u201cclimate of fear and censorship<\/a>\u201d in the wake of Kirk\u2019s death, championed by conservative activists.<\/p>\n Second, it was also a new kind of (partial) victory for liberals and their resistance efforts in the second Trump term.<\/p>\n Led by celebrities, podcasters, influencers, and the grassroots \u2014 as opposed to any institutions, corporations, billionaires, or political parties \u2014\u00a0it 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.<\/p>\n While a variety of voices pushed back against this attempt at corporate censorship, Nexstar and Sinclair continued to boycott Kimmel\u2019s show last night \u2014 airing local news segments instead of Jimmy Kimmel Live!<\/em> in the nearly 25 percent of local ABC affiliates across the country that they own. They don\u2019t show signs of reversing course yet. And it\u2019s not clear what mechanism \u2014 if any \u2014 Kimmel supporters have to influence either corporation to change its policy for now.<\/p>\n Tuesday night\u2019s monologue might end up being the moment Kimmel revived this new type of resistance \u2014\u00a0or it might get lost in another wave of Trump-induced news and scandal. It will surely be one of his best rated shows. He came out swinging against Trump, his efforts to punish his critics, and the FCC\u2019s chief Brendan Carr. Kimmel didn\u2019t directly apologize \u2014 and instead made an impassioned case for further Trump resistance, called in surprise guest (and Trump arch-enemy) Robert De Niro, and joked about Trump\u2019s physical appearance and the likelihood of an Epstein files drop \u201cto distract us from this now\u2026 He tried his best to cancel me, instead he forced millions of people to watch the show. That backfired bigly.\u201d<\/p>\n His case against Trump was simple.\u201cThe President of the United States made it very clear he wants to see me and the hundreds of people who work here fired from our jobs. Our leader celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can\u2019t take a joke,\u201d he said, holding back tears throughout the address. \u201cA government threat to silence a comedian the President doesn\u2019t like is anti-American. There is some solidarity on that from the right and the left and those in the middle. Maybe the silver lining from this is we found one thing we can agree on, and maybe we\u2019ll even find another one.\u201d<\/p>\n No less potently, Kimmel didn\u2019t identify as a liberal or a Democrat when attacking Trump, but as an American. Kimmel, who joked that he barely paid attention in school, said he never expected to be in his current position \u2014 fighting a war of principle against a would-be American despot \u2014 but that he was taught by comedians such as Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, and Howard Stern that censoring comedians is \u201cunAmerican.\u201d This was not a progressive or a liberal\u2019s cry of rage; Kimmel attacked Trump from the absolute dead-center.<\/p>\n Although Kimmel came out strong in his return, there are still other obstacles to reclaiming his former audience. Sinclair and Nexstar are continuing their boycott of his show, setting up a potential showdown with Disney and ABC in the coming days. Sinclair\u2019s position seems ideological \u2014 demanding Kimmel apologize to Kirk\u2019s family and make a \u201cmeaningful\u201d contribution to Kirk\u2019s activist group Turning Point. Nexstar argues that Kimmel\u2019s speech was harmful \u2014 though the company has a deal merging with Tegna, another major station owner, pending before Trump\u2019s FCC.<\/p>\n Combined, their stations reach nearly a quarter of the American viewing public \u2014\u00a0meaning millions of Americans (in cities like Washington, DC, Nashville, Salt Lake City, Seattle, and St Louis) who might<\/em> want to watch Kimmel\u2019s show simply can\u2019t turn on their televisions and do so (I, for one, had to watch his monologue on a clandestine TikTok livestream from my phone).<\/p>\n Kimmel noted much of this during his monologue \u2014 citing pressure on affiliates in cities to not air his show and the slippery slope it might create in the future: \u201cShould 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?\u201d His studio audience responded with a resounding \u201cNo!\u201d Kimmel, and the decision-makers at the Mickey Mouse company might be hoping the rest of the country will keep feeling this way \u2014 but who knows if this fracas will be remembered beyond being just one more Trump scandal.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n That\u2019s part of what makes this moment of individual-led backlash seem so noteworthy \u2014 and one reason why it\u2019s not clear that it can be replicated. Kimmel raised this specter last night too, noting Trump\u2019s apparent desire to go after late-night comics specifically will probably continue.<\/p>\n \u201cSomehow, [he was able to] squeeze Colbert out of CBS, then he turned his sights on me, and now he\u2019s openly rooting for NBC to fire Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers and the hundreds of Americans who work for their shows,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I hope that if that happens, or if there\u2019s 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\u2019s not just comedy. He\u2019s gunning for our journalists too.\u201d<\/p>\n 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. Instead, it was primarily driven by \u201ctalent\u201d \u2014 actors, comedians, podcasters, and other individuals with a built-in audience and a public platform.<\/p>\n It came from the hundreds of Hollywood movie stars, comedians, and other celebrities who signed<\/a> open letters<\/a>: one from the ACLU with more than 400 A-list signers, including Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Robert DeNiro, and Lin-Manuel Miranda; and another<\/a> of more than 600 comedians including Rosie O\u2019Donnell, Kathy Griffin, and Chelsea Handler.<\/p>\n It was musicians<\/a> like Sarah McLachlan, Jewel, and Olivia Rodrigo<\/a> who backed out of promotional events and appearances for Disney-backed projects, and at least one TV writer who said they wouldn\u2019t work<\/a> with Disney in protest. It was current and past Marvel stars<\/a> posting critically about Disney and free speech to their followers (Marvel Studios is owned by Disney).<\/p>\n And it was other current or former late-night and TV show hosts like Jon Stewart<\/a>, Stephen Colbert<\/a>, John Oliver<\/a>, Jimmy Fallon<\/a>, David Letterman<\/a>, and Seth Meyers<\/a> that dedicated their monologues, segments of their shows, or in-person appearances over the last week to pillory Trump and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and to support Kimmel.<\/p>\n It was \u201ca blatant assault on freedom of speech,\u201d Colbert, whose own show is being scrapped under dubious circumstances<\/a>, warned in his monologue last week. \u201cWe all see where this is going\u2026 You can\u2019t go around firing somebody because you\u2019re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian\u2014a criminal\u2014administration in the Oval Office,\u201d Letterman warned at a festival appearance last week. \u201cIt is<\/em> possible to stand up to this kind of bullying and censorship,\u201d Meyers said to his own audience on Monday night.<\/p>\n Even some of the podcasters and new media stars that often sympathize with MAGA voiced concerns over the last week. \u201cManosphere\u201d influencers like the comedians Andrew Schulz and Akaash Singh spent time on their show<\/a> and on social media<\/a> explaining why conservatives should be outraged. Meanwhile, media personalities at the sports and pop culture brand Barstool Sports debated<\/a> each<\/a> other<\/a> on whether the suspension was,<\/em> in fact, government censorship.<\/p>\n And though it took him some time to record an episode and he didn\u2019t call out Trump by name, Joe Rogan, probably the most vocal \u201cfree speech\u201d defender of the podcasting world, ultimately criticized the FCC<\/a>, too, and warned those cheering Kimmel\u2019s silencing that the same powers could be used on them in the future on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Individually, each of these statements, posts, and actions reached very different segments of the American public; in today\u2019s 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 these<\/a> same celebrities<\/a> helped to encourage grassroots<\/a> cancellations and boycotts of Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions, as well as its theme parks<\/a> \u2014 which seem to have actually caused some economic damage<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kimmel referenced almost all of this during his opening monologue last night: he thanked his fellow comedians; he joked about the mass subscription cancellations; he thanked those \u201cpeople who don\u2019t support my show and what I believe, but support my right to share those beliefs anyway,\u201d including Rogan, Ted Cruz, and other conservative media voices. And he set himself up to be, if only for one night, Hollywood\u2019s Resistance leader.<\/p>\n Of course, Trump weighed in before Kimmel even started speaking with another threat: \u201cI think we\u2019re going to test ABC out on this. Let\u2019s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative,\u201d he posted on Truth Social<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the meantime, Disney will continue to allow streaming subscribers to watch Kimmel on Hulu (whose price is about to get higher<\/a>), even if Nexstar and Sinclair-run local affiliates maintain their refusal to play his show on their stations. And while ABC and Disney\u2019s brass may feel they deserve some credit for Kimmel\u2019s reinstatement \u2014 Kimmel thanked them for bringing him back and supporting his show over the years, though \u201cunfortunately, and I think unjustly, this puts them at risk\u201d \u2014 the extent of their willingness to fight Trump and a weaponized FCC remain open questions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nKimmel goes \u201cfull resistance\u201d<\/h2>\n
The angry affiliates problem<\/h2>\n
Celebrities, influencers, and everyday people forced Disney\u2019s hand<\/h2>\n
The saga continues<\/h2>\n