I had just finished this cartoon and was waiting on one of my proofers to give it the all-clear from typos when the news about Jimmy Kimmel came down.
The fuckers canceled Kimmel. The news is new, and I’m going to draw on this tomorrow, but I’m going to write a little about it now. I’m pissed. Is our democracy over?
Nexstar, one of the biggest owners of local TV stations in the country, including 28 ABC affiliates, said it will pre-empt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the immediate future because of comments Jimmy Kimmel made during one of his monologues.
Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr threatened to “take action” against ABC affiliates because of the comments. Now, ABC has “suspended” Kimmel’s show indefinitely.
Carr issued a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, saying, “I want to thank Nexstar for doing the right thing. Local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest. While this may be an unprecedented decision, it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values. I hope that other broadcasters follow Nexstar’s lead.”
The Trump regime's Rapid Response X account posted, “They're doing their viewers a favor. Jimmy is a sick freak!”
Trump posted on ShitSocial, “Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that's possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!”
Taylor Budowich, Deputy White House Chief of Staff, posted on Twitter/X, “Welcome to Consequence Culture. Normal, common sense Americans are no longer taking the bullshit and companies like ABC are finally willing to do the right and reasonable thing. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Is “consequence culture” the same as cancel culture, which Republicans claim to hate? Maybe I should ask Bud Light or Cracker Barrel…or Stephen Colbert.
Brandon Carr, the FCC fucker, went on a podcast and said, “Listen, we’re not going to run Kimmel anymore until you straighten this out because we’re running the possibility of license revocation from the FCC if we continue to run content that ends up being a pattern of news distortion.”
That is NOT the FCC’s job, to revoke broadcast licenses for airing content that says stuff they don’t want to hear. That’s fascism, babies. Are you going to shut down Substack for my blogs?
I’m a small fish in all of this, but I worry this will be like the Imperial Inquisitorious in Star Wars. They hunted Jedi refugees, and when they ran out of big-name Jedis and couldn’t find Yoda or Obi-Wan Kenobi, they started going after little fish Jedis. What will the goons do after they’ve canceled Kimmel, Colbert, and eventually Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers? Will they come after me? I need a lightsaber.
Nexstar president said, “Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located. Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue.”
These idiots are claiming that Kimmel suggested that Charlie Kirk’s shooter was MAGA, except he didn’t. If we’re going to cancel people, can we only do it to people who committed the offense they’re accused of? What did Kimmel say that was so outrageous?
Kimmel said in a monologue, “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.”
Kimmel did not claim the shooter was a MAGA guy. He didn’t suggest or imply it either. He didn’t “distort” news as Carr claimed. He expressed his opinion that the “MAGA gang” is pointing fingers away from themselves. He said they’re trying to score “political points.” You can disagree with that, but don’t lie about it. But lying about these things is what MAGA does.
Kimmel’s comment wasn’t even offensive. You have to make yourself be offended.
CBS settled with Trump in a personal lawsuit and then canceled Stephen Colbert right when they were trying to complete a huge merger that needed the federal government’s approval.
As it turns out, Nexstar is also seeking a deal that will make it the largest affiliate owner in the nation. But they need approval from…wait for it…the FCC.
ABC has already settled a lawsuit with Trump. So did Twitter/X and Facebook.
Trump is suing the Wall Street Journal over its reporting of the crude birthday drawing he sent to Jeffrey Epstein. He’s defunding PBS and NPR. And now, he’s suing The New York Times for reporting facts about him, like his finances.
JD Vance, Stephen “Baby Goebbels” Miller, Pam Bondi, and others in the regime are swearing vengeance on the left, who they claim created a divisive environment that killed Charlie Kirk.
Members of Congress are making demands that anyone caught speaking negatively of Charlie Kirk, whom they describe as “celebrating” his death, should be fired from their jobs.
Lists are being created online to dox people who have criticized Charlie Kirk. I’m on at least one of them.
Welcome to fascist America.
