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.