posted September 18, 2025 06:36 PM            

As a conservative at a mainstream news media outlet, I've found it frustrating to watch the hypocrisy of the left on display following the death of Christian and conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot Sept. 10.

The latest example of this is the Sept. 17 news that Disney-owned ABC preempted the "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" show indefinitely, due to cruel comments made by the late-night host about Kirk's suspected killer and pressure from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr.

I don't like the fact that Kimmel's show was suspended at least in part because Carr pressured the network from his perch at the FCC. But the left has amnesia when it comes to the cancel culture they perpetuated.

It is a game they created with rules they made up. Now they hate that it's being applied to them.

What did Jimmy Kimmel say about Charlie Kirk?
Critics of Kimmel's show being punished say it's because he has the right to free speech. I agree with this. But Kimmel's comments that caught Carr's attention were not just the typical joke or a humorous punch line.

In Kimmel's opening monologue of his show that aired on Sept. 15, he said, “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."

He suggests that a MAGA conservative killed Kirk, which is just untrue. Evidence released before the monologue by authorities revealed that the killer was not a conservative. In suggesting this, Kimmel insinuates that the right is trying to benefit from the loss of one of their own.

On a podcast with Benny Johnson, "The Benny Show," Carr suggested he might take action against ABC and Disney due to Kimmel's comments.

Carr also explained to CNBC that Kimmel's comments were "appearing to directly mislead the American public about a significant fac that probably one of the most significant political events we’ve had in a long time, for the most significant political assassination we’ve seen in a long time."

Carr has a right to be frustrated with Kimmel's noxious and misleading remark, but I don't think Carr, as head of the FCC, should have pressured Disney or ABC to suspend Kimmel's show indefinitely. The best way to champion free speech is to allow the free market to put pressure on it, like viewer outrage or lower ratings. Those things might have been enough to encourage Kimmel to issue a correction or even apologize.

Hollywood liberals have canceled conservatives for years
Still, it's frustrating to see people outraged at what's happening with Kimmel and others because it seems so hypocritical. I've watched for years as conservatives have gotten canceled just for their ideological positions and expressing themselves freely. Although it's worth noting they weren't canceled by the FCC or an arm of the government, but by the private marketplace.

Gina Carano was fired from Disney and Lucasfilm’s “The Mandalorian,” on which she enjoyed a leading role, after she posted a story on social media comparing the current political climate to Nazi Germany. Lucasfilm said in a statement that "her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”

Carano sued Disney, and they settled in August. If there was an outcry, it came from conservatives.

Gina Carano appears as bounty hunter Cara Dune in a scene from "The Mandalorian."
Gina Carano appears as bounty hunter Cara Dune in a scene from "The Mandalorian."
© Melinda Sue Gordon, Lucasfilm
A lot of regular Americans have experienced cancel culture, too, just for holding traditional conservative views. Peter Vlamingwas a French teacher at West Point High School in Virginia who got fired in 2018 for not using a transgender student’s preferred pronouns. He sued the school board, and they also settled the case. Other examples abound.

Cancel culture is a game liberals played aggressively, and it throttled conservative views that millions of decent, honest, hardworking Americans share. But the left's reaction to Kirk's death was a tipping point for many. Conservatives have had enough.

Public figures with a large platform, like Kimmel, could have approached this precarious moment in our nation's history with an olive branch of grief and kindness, or even a joke for the sake of unity. Instead, he went ahead with a falsehood and a smear.

It sounds like a lot of people, including employers, are embracing a striking moral clarity and renewed verve in the aftermath of a political assassination.

I don't like this game now, but I didn't like it then either, when it was conservatives on the chopping block of this evolving culture war.

Nicole Russell is a columnist at USA TODAY and a mother of four who lives in Texas. Contact her at nrussell@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @russell_nm. Sign up for her weekly newsletter, The Right Track.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jimmy Kimmel canceled? Liberals are finally reaping what they sowed. | Opinion

posted September 18, 2025 06:41 PM            

WTF?