For those who didn’t stay up to watch it, above is comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s full heartfelt and defiant monologue upon his show’s return to the air after Brendan Carr, Chair of Trump’s Federal Communications Commission, illegally threatened to pull his parent company ABC/Disney’s broadcast licenses over a comment Kimmel made about the assassination of far right-wing figure Charlie Kirk. Kimmel’s comment angered Republicans and spurred calls for his show to be taken off the air.
ABC/Disney temporarily suspended the show, leading to a public uproar and a mass uprising in defense of free speech.
Appearing on a conservative podcast after Kimmel’s comment, Carr made a mob-boss-like threat to use his power as FCC chair to ban Kimmel from TV, saying TV stations licensed by the FCC have an obligation to operate “in the public interest.”
The problem is the law contains no official definition of what is or is not in the public interest. This leaves Trump and his loyalists with an opening to define any jokes or comments about Trump that Trump doesn’t like as being against the public interest. In a move out of the dictators’ playbook, Trump is using this misguided definition as a reason to restrict Americans’ free speech rights, which are guaranteed in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Dictators and authoritarian regimes stifle free speech as a way to maintain control of the populace and suppress dissent.
The authoritarian playbook includes moves like restricting independent media, controlling artistic expression and persecuting an authoritarian regime’s critics as a way to ban challenges to a dictator’s authority and shape the public narrative in the dictator’s favor. Comedians critical of powerful figures are often the first casualties of such regimes.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said in a public statement on Thursday, September 18, 2025 (pdf) about Brendan Carr’s threat to pull broadcast licenses over Kimmel’s monologue, that the FCC has neither the authority, the ability nor the constitutional right to police the content of shows or punish broadcasters for speech it doesn’t like. Commissioner Gomez added,
“If [the FCC] were to take the unprecedented step of trying to revoke broadcast licenses, which are held by local stations rather than national networks, it would run headlong into the First Amendment and fail in court on both the facts and the law.”
Yeah I applaud the vote with your dollar approach and $$$$ has more power than we do!! Go Alexis!!
This Kimmel action shows us how powerful we are when we boycott. Getting Disney to reverse course in only 8 days is a huge, illuminating win and we did it together and it didn’t cost us anything. That means we can use this effective tool again and again.
What else can we use the Kirk murder/Kimmel to help advance?
I wrote Hurd and Hicklenlooper to enforce anti monopoly laws to break Nextstar and Sinclair. Google is another target, as the Feds are looking at Chrome as being a monopoly. We know that the misinformation masquerading as news is a root cause for maga/extremism so breaking up the mega holdings is important for quality of news coverage.
I also am agitating for gun safety laws at the state level. If Newsom can ban ice masks, and Colorado can legalize weed, why can’t we get some gun safety in the same way? We don’t have to wait for the Feds. Front range can lead on this, just like they did with weed. I’m writing people in California to agitate similarly, because Newsom is on fire and looking for shows of strength for a potential presidential run.
I’m also advocating for a boycott on Christmas. Trump’s base cares about the economy and we know it’s declining and trump is hiding that while claiming the economy is rising. Delivering a disaster 4th quarter would shake Wall Street awake from the lies. More importantly, when we deliver economic disasters those CEOs can use the losses as a tool to resist trump. The titans of American industry can be motived by economic pressure, a disaster 4th quarter would hit so hard. As a benefit, we could host some gift making parties to help get our spirits up – burnout is our biggest challenge. We have a lot of work to do, we need to start celebrating when we win and finding ways to enjoy the work we must perform.
It is SO rare for anyone to stand up to the MAGAlomaniac!
It is high time for DJT to have consequences for what he has done (his entire life).
Wake up America!! Don’t let this orange conman take us down.