Rantz: The Left’s lazy free speech outrage rings hollow as Jimmy Kimmel pulled off air

The media meltdown over Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension from ABC should raise more questions than tears. It’s the latest contrived controversy from the same group of leftists who will say and do anything to forward their anti-Trump narrative at the expense of introducing ideas that the American people can rally behind.

We’ve now seen multiple reports—Wall Street Journal, The Hollywood Reporter—that his show was pulled not as the result of any direct federal censorship, but because of marketplace pushback from advertisers and affiliate stations like Nexstar and Sinclair. Kimmel’s controversial monologue falsely, and in bad faith, claiming the accused Charlie Kirk assassin was a conservative, was the spark; commercial and some political pressure did the rest.

Yet what we are hearing from many on the Left is an overwrought claim that this is “the end of free speech,” or worse, that it’s “unprecedented.” Both assertions are false and distract from what’s really going on.

What the Reports Say

According to WSJ and The Hollywood Reporter, ABC’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel Live! indefinitely came after affiliate groups—Nexstar in particular—declined to air Kimmel’s show over comments he made in a monologue about Charlie Kirk’s murder.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, weighed in heavily, criticizing Kimmel’s remarks as misleading and hinting at regulatory consequences for ABC and Disney under their broadcast-licensing obligations. But crucially, sources suggest that Nexstar and other stations made those affiliation decisions based on content concerns before any possible action was discussed by the FCC.

ABC and its parent Disney made the call to suspend the show largely because its affiliate network was shrinking—if many local stations refuse to carry your show, it can’t reach its audience, can’t collect ad revenue, and looks untenable. Further, reports say that Kimmel had planned additional material for upcoming monologues—intended to double down on his claims—that likely would have fanned the flames even more. That raised the stakes for ABC executives and advertiser partners.

So: this was not a Trump-decree, nor was it an FCC mandate forcing ABC to pull the show (at least not yet). The market—not a government censor—acted first.

Brendan Carr: Muddying the waters

Carr’s rhetoric has been concerning. He told companies they could “do this the easy way or the hard way,” hinting that failing to act—or retract—might attract regulatory scrutiny. He should not have said this, especially since the market was going to course correct Kimmel.

The statement gave the impression of a government official leaning on a broadcaster for political reasons. But the real pressure seems to have come from the affiliates and advertisers, not from a direct mandate from the FCC. Criticism of Carr’s posture is valid—but it should not obscure who made the real move: Nexstar, Disney/ABC, and other commercial actors.

Left-Wing Outrage: Selective free speech defenders

Meanwhile, much of the Left is acting as though this is some new, egregious level of suppression. One colleague said that “I’ve never seen free speech under attack like this.” Really? Let’s test that memory.

Where were these outraged voices when the Biden administration pressured Facebook to suppress true COVID content—material that was backed by credible scientists and official data? When White House officials and intelligence agency players worked behind the scenes to get the New York Post’s Hunter Biden stories pulled from social media platforms? When lawmakers and media champions cheered then-Twitter’s ban of Donald Trump, arguably one of the most powerful speech suppression moves in history?

And what about Roseanne Barr or Gina Carano—both purged from their careers after single missteps , often with very little context, nuance, or legal recourse? That was actual cancel culture, massive careers derailed, but little left-wing condemnation.

It’s not that none of this has come under fire—some of it has. But nowhere have we seen Left-wing pundits and “free speech” warriors act with consistency. Only when a high-profile liberal comedian is pulled do we hear the drums beat.

So what’s the real issue?

This episode isn’t about Trump or the FCC alone. It’s about the commercial ecosystem. It’s about advertising dollars, affiliate stations, Disney executives weighing reputational risk. It’s about Kimmel’s own decision to escalate rather than walk back his statements when the pressure started.

The show didn’t get suspended because someone passed a law. It got suspended because the market decided, and Disney and its affiliates saw more risk than benefit in sticking with the controversy. Or should we pretend that shows hosted by liberals should never get canceled, no matter how costly they are and how few watch them?

Why the misleading narrative?

The Left’s narrative of censorship relies on alarming language: “cancel culture,” “free speech under threat,” “government silencing.” Those sell clicks. But they obscure the truth: that for decades, suppression of speech—corporate, platform-based, government-adjacent—has often been defended or ignored when the victims were conservatives, or when liberal figures themselves benefited. It’s selective memory.

Free speech isn’t the freedom to say literally anything without consequence. It’s the freedom to speak without government compulsion, government censorship, or legal punishment (aside from defamation, etc.). If advertisers decline your show, or local stations refuse to air it, that is not the government shutting down your speech—it’s a market reaction. It may be ugly or unfair, but it’s different.

Yes, there are real dangers when regulators threaten broadcasters for political monologues. Carr’s comments are concerning for that reason. But to act as though Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension is an existential threat to American free speech—while ignoring years of selective enforcement, suppression, deplatforming, and censorship—is intellectually dishonest. But it’s coming from the side who keeps telling us fascism has overtaken the White House and that Nazis are in power—some of the very kinds of claims that got Kirk killed.

Jimmy Kimmel made provocative statements. They were inaccurate, delivered in bad faith, and ill-advised. The backlash was fierce. He was about to escalate and market forces reacted. In this instance, Kimmel was canceled—but not by Trump calling ABC or the FCC handing down an order. He was canceled by the stations, advertisers, and ultimately by Disney’s calculus.

If we want to defend free speech, we need consistency. Not performative outrage. Not only when it’s one of our own. And not forgetting all those who suffered gets lost when the talk of “the end of speech” starts trending.

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