It wasn’t about free speech

Disney has returned Jimmy Kimmel to its late-night lineup after “thoughtful conversations” but no actual apology, but that does not mean conservatives should move on from deeper truths exposed in this cultural crucible. We cannot let the left redirect the national narrative by questioning whether free speech protects a joke made in poor taste from action by a government regulator. This is where Disney, the Democrats, the ACLU, and Hollywood are intentionally pushing the conversation. That framework makes three fundamentally false assumptions that conservatives must reject: that free speech operates on broadcast television the same way as everywhere else, that the problem here was an insensitive or off-color joke, and that this was a decision made by a government regulator.

All of these assumptions are false.

First, social conservatives have long championed an appropriate regulatory approach to broadcast television in order to stop the indecency and violence that too often pollute our entertainment. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the agency responsible for licensing broadcast stations, rightly disciplined NBC when a celebrity dropped the F-bomb at the Golden Globes in 2005. The year before, the FCC issued a disciplinary notice to CBS after a “wardrobe malfunction” in the Super Bowl half-time show exposed Janet Jackson’s breast. Writing of it later, Chief Justice John Roberts said, “As every schoolchild knows, a picture is worth a thousand words, and CBS broadcast this particular picture to millions of impressionable children.”

How can the FCC take such actions when the Supreme Court has recognized a First Amendment right to speak profanity and to engage in exotic nude dancing? Because the First Amendment operates differently on broadcast radio and television. The airwaves belong to the American public. Those who get licenses to use them must restrict indecency and profanity as well as﷟ report news accurately. Far too many pundits have been lazy and made false arguments about Kimmel’s monologue. The truth is that ABC agreed to limited speech in exchange for lucrative access to the airwaves, a limited public resource.

Second, this was not about a joke. As FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in his Benny Johnson interview, Kimmel’s monologue fit into a broader “effort to try to lie to the American people about the nature ... of one of the most significant newsworthy public interest acts that we’ve seen in a long time.” The problem wasn’t an ill-timed or off-color joke; indeed, Kimmel’s monologue didn’t read like he was joking at that specific point. He presented a narrative that was untrue: that Charlie Kirk’s assassin had ultra-right motives rather than a leftist ideology. FCC rules have long made clear that broadcasters cannot intentionally distort the news, especially on a material fact. That’s contrary to the public interest, the legal standard that Carr and the FCC apply to broadcasting.

On a deeper level, Kimmel's monologue last Monday was part-and-parcel of Kimmel’s overall use-and-abuse of the airwaves as a one-sided lovefest for the Democratic Party. The monologue crystalized the fact that Kimmel lives in a liberal Hollywood bubble and that he totally misread the mood of the country and the facts of the situation. Kimmel’s reaction showed an attitude of entitlement that treats the airwaves as his personal property that he could use to advance his left-wing agenda. That’s the long-term problem the FCC needs to address, the total lack of viewpoint diversity on the airwaves, and this moment just exposed how deep the rot goes.

Third and finally, the left wants to place all the focus on Chairman Carr in order to reposition the issue as Trump v. Free Speech. President Trump appointed Carr, and the left wanted to move on from further coverage of Charlie Kirk’s murder, his assassin’s leftwing motives, and the incredible turnout for his funeral. But that narrative mischaracterizes what actually happened here. Disney made a business decision to take down Kimmel after numerous ABC affiliates pulled the show and widespread “sponsor panic” from advertisers. No company wants to be the next Cracker Barrel, and Disney was feeling the heat from across its pressure points. When that heat shifted so Disney was feeling more pressure from its Hollywood base than from its corporate partners, it returned Kimmel to the airwaves as though nothing had happened.

Lost in the entire affair was Google’s revelation that it worked hand-in-glove with the Biden Administration to censor conservative views on YouTube. Not a single network news show covered that admission. The omission perfectly encapsulates the problem: The networks and their liberal allies will only scream about the First Amendment to attack Trump and defend their fellow liberals—no such hue-and-cry was raised on behalf of everyday Americans censored by their friends in Big Tech and the Biden White House.

That fundamental problem is no laughing matter and conservatives had better pay attention.