On Sept. 10, 2025, conservative political activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at a Utah Valley University campus debate event. The murder created a massive public outcry, with journalists, public figures, and people covering his death left and right.
One such person was Jimmy Kimmel, talk show host, comedian and four-time Emmy award winner, who commented on it on Monday, Sept. 15, on his talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! He joked about the Republican response to finding out that the shooter was a registered Republican, saying the “MAGA gang” was “Desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.”
This remark caused the FCC broadcast regulator Brendan Carr to threaten to act against ABC, which resulted in the network pulling Kimmel off the air “indefinitely.” In doing so, it sparked even more contention, with some supporting the decision and others claiming it was a punishment of free speech and a violation of rights. Many admonished Kimmel’s words, saying it was offensive and insensitive. During a press briefing in the United Kingdom, President Trump said that Kimmel was “fired because he had bad ratings.”
A week after Kimmel’s remarks, on Tuesday, Sept. 23, he returned to the air. On his return, his viewership spiked, and he apologized for what he said, claiming he never meant that the actions of one “disturbed individual” represented a group of people, and that he never meant to “make light of the murder.”
But he criticized ABC for pulling him off their network, claiming that it was because the president, Donald Trump, didn’t like him. He also said that above all, it’s important “That we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.”
This isn’t the only time a situation concerning free speech in talk shows has happened in the past few months. Stephen Colbert, an Emmy and Grammy-winning talk show host and comedian known for The Late Show, was canceled shortly after his network, CBS, was put under Paramount jurisdiction via a deal Trump helped broker. Colbert is known for commenting on political affairs with a firm stance, including the cancellation of other networks like PBS, as well as the legal actions against The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal by President Trump. Many have started to wonder about free speech and how much it’s being restricted.
“I do worry very much about the ways in which the presidency is being used to silence speech that I see to be crucial for our democracy,” Learning Enrichment teacher Jennifer Rand said. After Kimmel was pulled from the air, she said, “I canceled my subscription with Hulu and Disney…my opinion [on the matter] supersedes my feeling about how much I want to watch shows.”
Even after Kimmel was brought back on air, she hasn’t renewed her subscription, stating firmly on the matter of free speech that, “Any censorship feels like a slippery slope to me.”
Similarly, senior Via Helling said she was surprised when they pulled Kimmel off the air. “I feel like they [the government and those in authority] always say free speech until you say something they don’t agree with.”
Talk shows have always poked fun at the government and current events, from mishaps the president makes to the scandals of senators and more. However, some of these hosts, like Colbert and Seth Meyers, have taken more of an explicit political stand against the present government, making it seem as though these cancellations are targeted. One of the biggest freedoms guaranteed in America is the freedom of speech and the ability to speak freely about opinions or standpoints, and it has come under fire in recent months.
