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When the State Can Silence Comedians, the Flag Is No Longer Still There [1]

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Date: 2025-09-18

Pulling Jimmy Kimmel off the air isn’t a culture war win — it’s the government using state power to silence dissent. If this were happening in Russia, we’d call it what it is: authoritarianism.

When we sing our national anthem, we ask the question, “Oh say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave?” And the answer has always been that our flag was still there — a symbol not just of territory or power, but of freedom. And one of the most essential freedoms that flag represents is the freedom of speech. Not speech we agree with — that speech doesn’t need protection. The speech that most needs protecting is the speech we loathe, the speech that makes us uncomfortable, the speech we’d rather not hear.

Yesterday the FCC threatened ABC, and ABC responded by pulling Jimmy Kimmel off the air. But let’s be very clear: when combined with Orange Palpatine — who after the cancellation of Stephen Colbert warned that Jimmy Kimmel would be next, and is now warning that Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers are next — this is no longer about viewers organizing boycotts or advertisers pulling sponsorships. This is not left versus right. This is the United States government using the power of the state to silence its critics. If this were happening in another country, we’d call it what it is: authoritarianism.

And that brings us to Charlie Kirk.

Let’s be clear: most of us here at Daily Kos disagreed with Charlie Kirk on almost everything. His politics were often cruel and regressive, his priorities were the opposite of ours, and his crusades harmed many people we care about. The list of Charlie Kirk's transgressions is long, even going so far as to disgustingly seemingly support violence against his opponents. But the one thing most of us did respect, what I'm sure somewhat argue was his one and only redeeming quality, was his commitment to debate. He wanted to argue his case. He wanted to win in the open. He didn’t call the FCC to take someone off the air — he handed them a microphone and challenged them.

With no sense of irony whatsoever, the right is now gleefully celebrating the silencing of Jimmy Kimmel and they are doing so in Charlie Kirk's name.

Whatever else you thought of Kirk, he fought with words, not censorship. And remember: what goes one way, goes the other. Imagine a Democratic administration yanking Fox News off the air, or threatening to pull Newsmax’s license because the hosts pushed election denial or COVID conspiracies. As much as many of us would love to put a muzzle on some of those right-wing lunatics, where does it end? Do we start threatening internet providers if they don’t take down certain podcasts? Do we pressure publishers to drop books? This is a battle that only escalates — a regressive spiral that nobody wins, except the person at the top of the pyramid who finally gets to silence all dissent. Are we really willing to hand that kind of power to whoever holds office next?

And if you are celebrating Kirk’s death, you are walking down the same dark road some walked last December, when Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was assassinated on the streets of New York, and people on our side cheered. As if a man being shot in front of a hotel somehow made the healthcare system better. It didn’t. It was murder. And it was no better than the ghouls who laughed at Paul Pelosi being bludgeoned in his home, or those who celebrated the Pulse nightclub massacre. Cheering on the wanton murder of human beings — whether they are CEOs, comedians, or our political enemies — is not righteous. It is depraved.

Also, according to The Daily Beast this morning, ABC network executives and station owners initially supported Kimmel — they reviewed what he actually said in his monologue and thought, “Yes, it’s provocative, but not outside the bounds.” (What Kimmel actually said has been widely mise reported, even by Chris Hayes on MSNBC, crucially he never said that the shooter was part of MAGA ) But reportedly they caved, out of fear of backlash from Orange Palpatine. They panicked over the political threat rather than defending free speech.

The First Amendment is not just “under pressure.” It has been under assault. And right now, it feels like the hammer is swinging toward us.

The core functioning of a free society is the free exchange of ideas. I’ve had people write some pretty harsh things in the comments on my own work, and I will always support their right to do it. When we forget that lodestar, we forget who we are. And that flag, already tattered, gets another tear. If we keep going down this path, one day we will wake up and find that the flag is no longer still there. And then where will we be?

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