Read the Jimmy Kimmel Monologue That Led to an FCC Crackdown

The comedian condemned Kirk's murder and called it "monstrous." That wasn't enough. He had to mourn correctly or lose his show.

So this is what actual government censorship looks like.

Not someone getting ratioed on Twitter. Not a comedian losing a Netflix special because they said something gross. Not even advertisers pulling their spots. This is the federal government threatening a broadcast network's license unless they silence a critic, and the network immediately caving.

Let me show you what got Jimmy Kimmel pulled off the air indefinitely.

First, here's what he said on September 11th, the day after Kirk's murder:

September 11th show:

JIMMY KIMMEL: Hi, I'm Jimmy. I am the host of the show. Thank you very much. Welcome. Thank you for joining us here in Los Angeles, the second-largest city in our bitterly divided nation, where, like the rest of the country, we're still trying to wrap our heads around the senseless murder of the popular podcaster and conservative activist Charlie Kirk yesterday, whose death has amplified our anger, our differences.

And I've seen a lot of extraordinarily vile responses to this from both sides of the political spectrum. Some people are cheering this, which is something I won't ever understand. We had another school shooting yesterday in Colorado—the 100th one of the year. And with all these terrible things happening, you would think that our president would at least make an attempt to bring us together, but he didn't.

President Obama did. President Biden did. Presidents Bush and Clinton did. President Trump did not. Instead, he blamed Democrats for their rhetoric. The man who told a crowd of supporters that maybe the Second Amendment people should do something about Hillary Clinton, the man who said he wouldn't mind if someone shot through the fake news media, the man who unleashed a mob on the Capitol and said Liz Cheney should face nine barrels shooting at her for supporting his opponent—blames the radical left for their rhetoric.

That's pretty measured, right? Condemning the violence, calling for unity, pointing out Trump's hypocrisy about violent rhetoric. Standard late-night commentary.

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But then came Monday's show. Here's what he said:

September 15th show:

KIMMEL: 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. In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving. On Friday, the White House flew the flags at half-staff, which got some criticism. But on a human level, you can see how hard the president is taking this.

[VIDEO - REPORTER:] My condolences on the loss of your friend Charlie Kirk. May I ask, sir, personally, how are you holding up over the last day and a half, sir?

[VIDEO - TRUMP:] I think very good. And by the way, right there, you see all the trucks? They've just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they've been trying to get, as you know, for about 150 years. And it's going to be a beauty.

KIMMEL: Yes, he's at the fourth stage of grief: construction. Demolition, construction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish, OK?

That's it. That's what triggered the government crackdown.

Look, should Kimmel have speculated about whose “side” the shooter was on? Probably not. But that's literally all Republicans have been doing since the moment Kirk was shot — except they've been baselessly trying to pin it on trans people. The Wall Street Journal ran with claims about “transgender ideology” on the bullets that turned out to be completely false. Right-wing media immediately labeled it “trans terrorism” without a shred of evidence. Ian Miles Cheong called for “all trans people rounded up and forcibly institutionalized.” But a comedian making one crack about conservatives distancing themselves from the shooter? That's apparently where we draw the line.

Jimmy Kimmel. Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation

Within 48 hours, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr was calling Kimmel's comments “the sickest conduct possible” and threatening ABC: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct and take actions on Kimmel, or there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

Translation: Fire the comedian or we'll yank your broadcast license.

And it worked. Nexstar Media Group — which just happens to be seeking FCC approval for a merger — immediately announced it would preempt Kimmel's show on its ABC affiliates. Right-wing media company Sinclair followed suit. Within hours, ABC pulled the show “indefinitely.”

The speed of the capitulation was breathtaking. No investigation. Just a government official making threats and corporations immediately falling in line.

Here's what makes this even more insane: Back in 2019, Carr himself wrote “Should the government censor speech it doesn't like? Of course not. The FCC does not have a roving mandate to police speech in the name of the ‘public interest.’” Guess that principle went out the window the moment his guy got back in power.

The hypocrisy is ridiculous, but it's also beside the point. What matters is that we're watching the government use regulatory threats to silence political satire in real-time. The First Amendment? That goes out the window when you make fun of how Trump talks about his dead friend. And again, as much as the right is trying to make it sound like Kimmel made some terrible comments that besmirched the good name of Charlie Kirk when his jokes were entirely at Trump’s expense.

And before anyone says, “well, Kimmel was spreading misinformation” — no, he wasn't. He said conservatives were rushing to distance themselves from the shooter before details emerged. Which is exactly what they were doing. Remember when the Wall Street Journal reported the bullets had “transgender ideology” on them? When right-wing media immediately blamed trans people? All of that turned out to be false. The actual inscriptions were internet memes like “If you read this, you are gay. LMAO.”

But Kimmel pointing out the rush to judgment? That's apparently grounds for cancellation.

Anna Gomez, the only Democratic FCC commissioner, put it perfectly: “This Administration is increasingly using the weight of government power to suppress lawful expression.”

The timing isn't coincidental. This is happening while people are still being fired for not mourning Charlie Kirk appropriately. Karen Attiah lost her Washington Post column. Airline pilots got grounded. Hospital workers were terminated. Now a comedian with one of the longest-running shows on television gets yanked off the air for making a joke about Trump talking about construction instead of grief.

What's particularly chilling is how Carr framed this on Hannity: “We at the FCC are going to enforce the public interest obligation. If there's broadcasters out there that don't like it, they can turn their license in to the FCC.” He's not even pretending this is about fairness or accuracy. It's submit or surrender your ability to broadcast.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression tried to point out the obvious: “The FCC has no authority to control what a late night TV host can say, and the First Amendment protects Americans' right to speculate on current events even if those speculations later turn out to be incorrect.”

This is what the sanitization of Charlie Kirk has led to. We've gone from “you must mourn appropriately” to “you cannot make jokes about how the president mourns” to “the government will shut down your show if you criticize us.” The escalation took less than a week.

Jimmy Kimmel condemned Kirk's murder the day it happened. He called it “senseless” and “horrible and monstrous.” He sent condolences to Kirk's family. But that wasn't enough. He had to pretend Kirk was a hero. He had to pretend Trump's reaction was normal. He had to play along with the mandatory national grief performance.

And when he didn't? When he made a couple of mild jokes about the absurdity of it all? The full weight of the federal government came down on him and his network.

People keep asking what happened to free speech in America. This is what happened. It got sacrificed on the altar of Charlie Kirk's martyrdom. And if you don't mourn properly, if you don't participate in the hagiography, if you dare to point out the emperor is discussing construction instead of wearing clothes?

Well, they can do this the easy way or the hard way. And ABC chose the easy way.

Welcome to the new normal, where a late-night comedian making fun of the president is “the sickest conduct possible,” but calling for trans people to be institutionalized was just Charlie Kirk practicing politics the right way.