“Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of
the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress
of grievances.”
-the First Amendment to
the U.S. Constitution
"After years and years of
illegal and unconstitutional federal efforts to restrict free expression, I
also will sign an executive order to immediately stop all government censorship
and bring back free speech to America. Never again will the immense power of
the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents — something I know
something about. We will not allow that to happen. It will not happen again.”
-President Donald
Trump, Inauguration Speech 2025
"Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There's ugly speech. There's gross speech. There's evil speech. And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment. Keep America free."
-Charlie Kirk on X
"President Biden is right. Political satire is one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech. It challenges those in power while using humor to draw more people into the discussion. That's why people in influential positions have always targeted it for censorship."
-Brendan Carr on X, 05-02-2022
On Wednesday, September 17th, Jimmy Kimmel and
his late-night television show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” were suspended
“indefinitely” by Disney/ABC CEO Bob Iger over an allegedly offensive monologue
he delivered on September 15.
[Transcript included below.]
The subject of the joke: the assassination of right-wing
commentator Charlie Kirk on September 10 while Kirk was speaking to students on
a college campus in Utah.
The target of the joke: President Trump.
The Captain feels that is an important distinction that is
often overlooked.
Apparently executives at both Disney and ABC were not concerned,
but a lot of others were, and ultimately Kimmel was canned.
The Right celebrated!
The Left organized boycotts against Disney and Disney assets
in protest, which yer Captain believes targets the wrong entity.
Bob Iger did not start this fight. He did what he felt he
had to do to protect his multi-billion dollar company.
Put yourself in his shoes.
And be honest with yourself for a moment.
As chairperson of a multi-national corporation worth $204
billion, beholden to stockholders and a corporate board, not to mention hundreds
of thousands of employees… and you’re going to risk your broadcast license over
one comedian’s late-night joke?
You might recall from 2022 that Disney took a “principled
stance” against Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law. DeSantis retaliated and two
years of legal battles later Disney settled with the state in a terrible deal.
Ya wanna go through that with the FCC now?
CAPTAIN’S NOTE: As of this writing, DIS has lost about
5% of its stock value since the day before the Kirk shooting, but nowhere near its
lowest price of the year back in April.
It is yet to be seen how these boycotts will affect
advertising and subscriptions, but yer Captain still questions the
effectiveness of boycotts in general and this one in particular.
Especially boycotts by Liberals.
Sorry.
So how did we get here?
It is no secret that Donald Trump is not a fan of the
mainstream media.
They sometimes report uncomfortable truths about him.
He hates the late-night TV hosts even more, as they are free
to lampoon him (severely at times).
To be fair, Trump makes himself an easy target for
comedians.
After Trump successfully pressured CBS into firing Steven
Colbert, he turned his sights on his next target: Jimmy Kimmel.
Kimmel’s monologue on September 15 was all the fodder trump
needed.
But he didn’t do it himself.
Speaking on a podcast, “The Benny Show”, Federal
Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr criticized Kimmel’s monologue
and warned ABC,
“We can do this the easy way or the
hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action,
frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
The implication was clear: the FCC could pull ABC’s
broadcast license if they didn’t do something about Kimmel.
Just hours later, Sinclair Broadcasting announced it would
not show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on any of its 38 ABC affiliate stations after
Kimmel’s monologue.
"Mr. Kimmel's remarks were
inappropriate and deeply insensitive at a critical moment for our country, we
believe broadcasters have a responsibility to educate and elevate respectful,
constructive dialogue in our communities, we appreciate FCC Chairman Carr's
remarks today and this incident highlights the critical need for the FCC to
take immediate regulatory action to address control held over local
broadcasters by the big national networks."
-Sinclair Vice Chairman Jason Smith
Among Sinclair’s conditions for resuming Kimmel’s talk show
on their local ABC affiliates was for the late-night host to apologize to the
Kirk family and donate to them and Kirk’s political organization Turning Point
USA “a significant personal financial contribution”.
CAPTAIN’S NOTE: Does that sound like extortion to
anyone besides the Captain?
But the widely-known conservative broadcast company was not
alone.
Nexstar, with 28 ABC affiliates, also announced they would
not air Kimmel’s show, putting more pressure on Iger at Disney/ABC.
These two companies together would equal about 1/3 of all ABC
affiliates.
But here’s where it gets complicated. Nexstar wants to
purchase Tegna’s 64 TV stations in a $6.2B deal. This would require an FCC rule
change & approval, over which President Trump would hold some sway.
And if the FCC chairman has already spoken out against you, chances
are slim the deal would go through.
That, too, was on Iger's radar.
Was Kimmel’s monologue all that bad?
In the days that have passed, yer Captain has heard many on
the Right decry what Jimmy Kimmel said. Most of those complaints simply proved
that those people had not actually heard the monologue and were only repeating
what other agitators told them.
Here is the text of Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue from September
15:
“We hit some new lows over the weekend
with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as
anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score
political points from it.
“In between the finger-pointing, the White
House flew the flag at half-staff, which got some criticism, but on a human
level, you can see how hard the president was taking this.”
[He then cut to a clip of President Trump
being questioned by a reporter outside the White House, where he was asked how
he was holding up in the wake of Kirk’s assassination. The commander-in-chief
said, “I think very good,” then immediately changed the subject to the
renovations being done to the White House ballroom.]
“He’s at the fourth stage of grief:
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. Okay?”
-excerpted from New York Post, September 18, 2025
You will see in this transcript that Kimmel does not, in
fact, make fun of Charlie Kirk. The target of his commentary is the President,
who, immediately following the shooting accused Democrats and “the radical
Left”.
CAPTAIN’S NOTE: Over the weekend the news leaked that
the FBI has still found no connection between the shooter and any Left-wing
organization. Perhaps it is time they start looking toward the Right?
I mean, seriously, me dear ol’ Mum taught me to look “both
ways” before crossing the street. Perhaps the FBI needs to do the same?
What those hating on Jimmy Kimmel have not said is that
following the shooting, Kimmel posted the following message to the Kirk family
on Instagram:
"Instead of the angry
finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and
monstrous to shoot another human?... On behalf of my family, we send love to
the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to
senseless gun violence."
In fact, Kimmel’s monologue on September 15 began with
criticism of the President’s response to the shooting. He pointed out that every
former president – from Bill Clinton to Joe Biden – released compassionate statements
in attempts to unite the country. Kimmel continued:
"With all these terrible things
happening, you would think that
our president would at least make an attempt to bring us together… President Trump did not.
Instead, he blamed Democrats for their rhetoric.”
So Jimmy Kimmel was suspended.
Indefinitely.
Not for criticizing Charlie Kirk, but for criticizing the
president.
And Disney is being punished.
Meanwhile, Kirk is being deified.
His supporters are making him out to be a greater Christian
than Jesus Christ!
Congress just passed a resolution honoring Kirk.
Trump has stated he will grant Kirk a Medal of Freedom
posthumously.
A huge memorial service was held last night in the Arizona
Cardinals stadium, which Trump turned into yet another campaign rally calling
attention to himself.
Evangelical churches are reportedly using AI to create videos
of Charlie Kirk saying things he never really said.
Inexplicably, Republican lawmakers in Oklahoma introduced
legislation last week that would require every public university in the state
to construct a “Charlie Kirk Memorial Plaza” with a statue of the assassinated
activist and a sign calling him “a modern civil rights leader”. Failure to do
so would result in a monthly fine.
This one's in Iowa. James T. Kirk.
Kirk’s wife is quickly stepping into his role as leader of
Turning Point USA, which is odd since Kirk professed belief that women should
stay at home and raise children.
CAPTAIN’S NOTE: The Kirks have two small children,
ages three and one. One might think following a tragedy like this these
children might need their mother more than ever.
But that's none of my business.
And all of this is happening despite the fact that Charlie
Kirk called for the full and unredacted release of the Epstein Files.
So yes, Trump won!
He muzzled another one of his critics
without violating the First Amendment.
He has convinced you to blame someone
else for it.
He has damaged Disney / ABC, to what extent
is yet to be known.
And with two successes under his belt,
he has now set his sight on Seth Myers and Jimmy Fallon.
Democracy is falling.
You have been warned.
POSTSCRIPT: Upon completion of this writing, ABC has announced "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" will return to the air tomorrow night.
