“Jimmy Kimmel Live” returned to the air last night, although not every market was able to view the show’s celebrated return. Nexstar and Sinclair, two companies that own a number of TV stations around the country, announced they were going to preempt Jimmy Kimmel’s show until they knew how he was going to handle what he said relative to Charlie Kirk and how the show would evolve from that point forward.
Kimmel was gracious in his opening monologue, choking up and fighting back tears on several occasions. But Kimmel’s opening monologue was mostly a celebration and a proclamation of victory for freedom of speech.
"Our freedom to speak is what they admit most about this country, and that’s something I’m embarrassed to say I took for granted until they pulled my friend Stephen off the air and tried to coerce the affiliates who run our show in the cities that you live in to take my show off the air. That’s not legal. That’s not American."
"That’s un-American” was the point Kimmel made as his show returned to the air.
Kimmel made it clear that the battle for the return of his show was a battle for the First Amendment, saying, “Our leader celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can’t take a joke.”
He made it clear that the audience - the American people - fought for the right for his show to continue in the face of a threat from the government to take action over comments that were made that were displeasing to the FCC - a federal agency that operates under the administration.
Kimmel made it clear that he never intended to mock the murder of Charlie Kirk and praised what Kirk’s widow, Erika, said at his memorial service over the weekend.
Kimmel highlighted what Erika Kirk said: “There was a moment over the weekend, a beautiful moment, Sunday, Erika Kirk forgave the man who shot her husband. She forgave him. This is an example we should follow. If you believe in the teachings of Jesus as I do, there it was. That’s it. A selfless act of grace, forgiveness from a grieving widow. It touched me deeply, and I hope it touches many. And, if there’s anything we take from this tragedy to carry forward , I hope it can be.”
In his defense of free speech, Kimmel said, “One thing I learned from Lenny Bruce and George Carlin and Howard Stern, is that a government threat to silence a comedian the president doesn’t like, it’s anti-American.”
The controversy over Jimmy Kimmel is a bipartisan one, and Kimmel thanked the conservative media and conservative political figures like Ben Shapiro, Clay Travis, Candace Owens, Senators Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul and even Ted Cruz. for supporting him. Those, and other conservatives, demonstrate that the fight for freedom of speech is a bipartisan effort that must succeed.
The challenge to our precious First Amendment is for more Americans to learn to accept the speech they disagree with. It is not always easy to accept the speech we hate or the speech we totally disagree with, but being an American carries with it responsibilities, and the toughest responsibility is to learn to accept the speech you disagree with.
The people who loved Charlie Kirk said that Charlie had a right to say what he said even if people disagree with it. And that’s exactly what needs to be done in the case of Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert. Like Charlie, Jimmy and Stephen have a right to say what they say even if not everyone agrees with what they are saying.