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So, what just happened? Jimmy Kimmel’s show has been suspended indefinitely. Yes, Jimmy Kimmel, the late-night host who’s been on ABC for over two decades. The reason wasn’t bad ratings or a public scandal, it was because of something he said.
During his monologue on Monday, Kimmel 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 and in between the finger pointing.” and then played a clip of Trump seemingly unfazed when asked about the death of his friend, Charlie Kirk.
The chairman of the FCC then took to Benny Johnson’s podcast on Wed. Sept 17 to criticize Kimmel, ABC, and Disney which is ABC’s parent company. What followed is a chilling reminder of how quickly the federal government is able to squash criticism under this current administration. CBS announced the immediate suspension of Kimmel’s show the same day that the Benny Johnson episode aired.
I recently wrote a Substack piece about Benny Johnson and his suspicious rise on YouTube. So it’s not lost on me that his podcast is where the FCC chair chose to launch his attack.
Welcome to their cancel culture.
We’ve seen this playbook before. It’s the same tactic that led to CBS cancelling Stephen Colbert after he dared to point out a Trump-connected settlement with CBS’s parent company. It’s not about entertainment, it’s about silencing critics.
The message to the rest of the media is clear: criticize Trump and you might be next.
This is exactly why independent media matters.
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Sure, they can still try to sue us, silence us, or even revoke my naturalized citizenship. But we don’t answer to billion-dollar boardrooms.
We answer to you.
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MAGA cancel culture is real—and it’s coming for the press. But they can’t cancel what they don’t control.
Let’s keep building.
—David
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They said it was over something Kimmel said, but it’s clear to me that it’s about what Trump said and they’re mad at Kimmel for showing.
Like “I’m not mad at person X for doing Z. I’m mad at person Y for informing me person X did Z.” Completely misplaced who they directed their outrage towards because heaven forbid they criticize their dear leader…