The return of Jimmy Kimmel to ABC’s late-night lineup tells us something very important about where free speech stands in America right now. It also shows how fast some of our biggest media companies, like Disney and ABC, will fold under pressure—especially when they’re caught trying to silence a voice they don’t like.
Let’s be clear: Jimmy Kimmel is no friend to conservatives or to President Trump. He’s spent years insulting Trump supporters and mocking the values many Americans hold dear. But even someone like Kimmel has a right to speak. That’s what the First Amendment guarantees. And when a major news platform like ABC tries to shut someone down just because of what they say—even if it’s offensive or poorly timed—they’re not just hurting that one person. They’re hurting all of us.
ABC and its parent company Disney suspended Kimmel after he made an off-color remark about the recent and tragic assassination of conservative leader Charlie Kirk. The comment was tasteless, cruel, and wrong. But it was speech. And in America, speech—especially unpopular speech—is supposed to be protected. That’s the whole point of the First Amendment.
The real danger came when government voices got involved. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said that if ABC didn’t act, he would. That’s not just pressure—that’s a threat. And when a government official says, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” that’s not freedom. That’s control. It doesn’t matter if it’s aimed at a liberal talk show host or a conservative radio personality. The Constitution doesn’t care who’s speaking—it only cares that everyone has the right to do so.
Even some liberals and celebrities saw the danger. Over 400 of them signed a letter calling this a “dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation.” Howard Stern, no conservative, was furious. He canceled his Disney+ subscription and warned, “When the government says, ‘I’m not pleased with you, so we’re going to silence you,’ that’s the wrong direction for our country.”
He’s right. Because once the government or a giant company starts picking who gets to speak and who doesn’t, we all lose. Today it’s Jimmy Kimmel. Tomorrow it could be you.
Let’s also not ignore the fact that Disney and ABC only brought Kimmel back after a massive public outcry. They didn’t do it because they suddenly believe in free speech. They did it because it was bad for business. They were losing viewers. They were getting hammered in the press. Their own former CEO, Michael Eisner, accused current boss Bob Iger of caving to “out-of-control intimidation.”
So they reversed course—not out of principle, but out of panic.
Kimmel returns to the air with more power than before. And while some ABC executives may be secretly hoping he tones things down, they’ve made it clear they won’t try this again any time soon. He won. They lost. And they’ll carry the label of “free speech enemies” for years to come.
What does this mean for the rest of us? It means that the fight for free speech isn’t over—not by a long shot. It means we must stay alert whenever powerful people, whether in government or in corporations, try to silence voices they don’t like. And it means we must always defend the right to speak freely, even when we disagree with what’s being said.
Because once we lose that right, we lose what makes America truly free.
In the end, this wasn’t just about Jimmy Kimmel. It was a test of our principles. And while the results were messy, one thing is now crystal clear: the American people still care about the Constitution. And when we speak up, even the biggest companies can be forced to listen.
