Let’s talk about what happened with Jimmy Kimmel. We’ll put on our thinking caps and try to figure out what really happened. If you’re joining in the conversation late? You should know that the Jimmy Kimmel program didn’t air last night. For… reasons. There is plenty to take into consideration here. Was Kimmel out on the sidelines for ‘joke’? In my opinion, it wasn’t a joke. It came across as a statement of fact on the way towards a joke about Trump. Here’s the clip:
Now you could still kind of make an argument about freedom of speech, but the other side of that coin is a defamation suit. Jimmy presented the false info like it was common knowledge or something. That’s a big part of the math going on too. How much could this statement from Kimmel cost? This is where I think we get closer to the truth of what’s really going on. Money.
There’s a confluence of events going on here, but a big part of this is money. Or rather lack of it in TV. Overall viewer ship is down. Ad revenue is drying up. You need viewers and you need cash. Supposedly, Colbert was losing 40 million a year for CBS. Still find that hard to believe, but that’s the number they went with. Oof!
For the longest time, Studios and Network behaved like the party would never end. They cancelled people on TV on a regular basis! Roseanne, Tucker, etc. If they lost some money? So be it. They thought they could take the hit of the lost revenue.
But the numbers just got worse.
Now add in a truly horrible take from Kimmel on the assassination of Charlie Kirk and as they say in NY: ‘Forget about it’. This is the perfect time to cut Kimmel loose; make it look like politics and freedom of speech. And behind the scenes try to find a way to start making money again as a network. ABC affiliates had enough. It’s one thing to lose money, but when it’s coupled with Kimmel’s comments. That’s a bridge too far.
The whole Kimmel scenario is a good metaphor for our country. We can run around and pretend that certain things are super important, like where a trans guy is going to take a dump at Burger King, but when all is said and done, the unfunny issue of debts and deficits and spending will rear its ugly head. America will be broke. Tada! At some point the chickens come home to roost.
So, enjoy the weeping and gnashing of teeth about cancel culture and Kimmel and blah, blah, blah. Have fun with your ‘what about the time this guy said that?’ Money makes the world go round. It’s easy to talk about theoretical problems when the lights are on everything works. But when you are losing mountains of cash AND your moral compass is stuck on asshole? It’s over. Bye bye. It’s a no brainer.
Michael,
Excellent look into Kimmel’s cancellation and you hit all the key issues and wrapped it up in one package. Again, Excellent!
How Kimmel’s show lasted so long is beyond me. Latenight shows were supposed to be entertaining, something to wind down
from the day, something to get a good laugh with and Kimmel’s show for many years gave viewers none of this.
I could be wrong and way off base, but I think the networks and their sponsors who pay the bills with commercials will next be
taking a look at some of the news anchors who spin “their” opinions to fit a narrative, rather than just stating the facts.
Keep up the good work!
Kimmel said that conservatives were arguing that Kirk’s assassin wasn’t MAGA. Is that false? Were conservatives not making those arguments? You might not like the way he’s framing the issue, but it’s objectively not a lie. Even in Trump’s America, words have meanings.
Trump wanted Kimmel off the air and used his partisan FCC head along with weaponizing the increased tensions from Kirk’s death (which is far more disgusting than anything Kimmel said about the issue) to pressure ABC into making that happen. You might not like Kimmel and the things he said, but if everyone liked everything everyone said, we wouldn’t need a First Amendment.
Any real comedian would care about the government actively deplatforming its critics. The only upside to this whole situation is it’s an excellent litmus to identify all the partisan hacks at once.
HA! That’s funnier than anything Kimmel has said. Maybe you could ask for the gig. I’ll have to scroll back and find you defending Roseanne with such fervor. Or maybe me. Or anyone else on social media that was provably censored by the Biden Admin. Kimmel MIGHT get some sympathy from me if he didn’t celebrate the cancellation of Tucker etc. The left fucked up when they deplatformed Trump as well. I have a LOOOONG track record of defending freedom of speech. I got no issues with that. Kimmel was about to get sued for his BS slander. ABC probably saw that shit coming too. George Snuffelufigus cost them a ton of dough. The lawsuits are going to be flying over this PROVABLE lie. Next up? Might be AOC for the shit she just said in Congress. Buckle up, butter cup!
You didn’t address my point, so I’ll reiterate. Kimmel talked about “the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.” There were in fact MAGA people arguing that Tyler Robinson wasn’t MAGA, so it’s not a lie. You might think they were right to argue that, you might think Kimmel’s framing implied an opinion of his that you disagree with. That doesn’t matter. Slander/libel involves provably false statements which Kimmel’s comments were objectively not.
Harry, it comes down to this ……we are Americans, period. I don’t care what way ya lean or your party affiliation because in the end, we are all Americans. It is a travesty that Charlie Kirk was murdered for exercising his 1-A God given right by another American who did not like what Charlie had to say and THAT IS the issue. There is a movie called, “The People versus Larry Flynt”, which discusses the 1-A extensively. You should see it and you will understand what I mean.
Also, if you do not know about the Smith-Mundt Act and Obama’s repeal of this law, then you have no idea you have been ingesting propaganda. despite what Kimmel said or did not say. American media is being used to spread propaganda, period.
Michael Loftus has given us a platform to converge and communicate with him and other like minded people. Please don’t bag on him for issues of minutiae. This platform is to spread love, happiness and a little t and a for you guys. Oh and recipes too which I have tried a couple and they were fantastic!!
Have a great day!!
Thank you so very much for this! (And I hope Suzanne see’s the comment about the recipes!) We’ve got some fantastic people who contribute to the site! Thank you for being here! Have a great day!
Sher’ee! My YT friend! You couldn’t have said it better. What a great post. You put together a wonderful synopsis of why we love this website and the extremely talented people who contribute to it everyday.
I love that you can enjoy articles about politics,pop culture,movies,food, a new fun videos feature, and music (Love the Sunday Jams)
I’ve had my verbal “throwing a wobbly” with the same person.
You are a ray of sunshine Sher’ee. I’m sure I’ll see you again on the only website that matters. Have a great day!