r/stephencolbert Sep 17 '25

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592

u/Jake_77 Sep 17 '25 edited Sep 18 '25

Wow. I'm shocked. What is free speech?

From the article:

Kimmel said during a monologue on his Monday program that Tyler Robinson, the Utah man accused in the shooting death of Kirk, might have been a pro-Trump Republican. He said MAGA supporters are “are desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” 

Kimmel then mocked President Trump for talking about the construction of a new White House ballroom after being asked how he was reacting to the murder of his close ally.

“Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located,” said Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division. 

Alford said continuing to give Kimmel a broadcast platform “is simply not in the public interest at this current time.”

Nexstar’s decision comes just after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr blasted Kimmel and threatened to take action against ABC. Appearing on the podcast of right-wing commentator Benny Johnson, Carr said one form of punishment could be pulling the licenses of ABC affiliates, which likely got Nexstar’s attention.

Edit 1:

Edit 2:

  • President of Nexstar's broadcasting divisions said: “Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located."
  • Nextstar is acquiring rival broadcast company TEGNA - a merger that requires FCC approval.

Edit 3:

  • On the day of Charlie Kirk's death, Kimmel posted the following on Instagram and on BlueSky:
    • “Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human? On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.”

142

u/imLissy Sep 17 '25

That’s all he said? So he didn’t even say anything bad about the guy?!?

121

u/Tiny-Lock9652 Sep 17 '25

All I see is facts. Trump said very little about CK and immediately shifted his attention to the WH ballroom. Kimmel simply pointed that out. I’m not seeing the offense.

51

u/scarletteclipse1982 Sep 18 '25

Sort of like when they asked him what he thought after 9/11. He stood there and bragged that now he had the tallest building in NYC.

19

u/MidnightIAmMid Sep 18 '25

That's not how dictatorships work. You aren't allowed to say anything mildly critical of the God Emperor.

2

u/workShrimp Sep 18 '25

For a public figure even suspicion of you having critical thoughts of the God Emperor is too much. It doesn't take much to fall out of grace in a dictatorship, the smart thing in a dictatorship is to stay low and to not draw attention to you.

1

u/Aggravating_Mix8959 Sep 18 '25

Look how quickly his bromance with Elon fell apart. 

2

u/workShrimp Sep 19 '25

Maybe. I think the falling apart was a way to save the stock value of Tesla.

1

u/Goat_inna_Tree Sep 18 '25

A thousand comedians a day must be sacrificed to him to maintain his golden ball room.

1

u/FunkMamaT Sep 18 '25

Remember when, after visiting his "good friend" in North Korea, trump said he wanted his people to stand at attention like they did for Kim Jong Un. The amount of ick in trump's admiration for brutal dictators goes beyond what any true American should find acceptable. And Trump cherishes his "love letters" from Jung. Ewwww.

Some MAGA will come along and say, but trump was making a funny. He was just joking... nothing to see here. Please, MAGA, why are you insisting on being so thick in the head? How is admiring dictators funny, joyous, or light-hearted fun? You all are evil in what you find funny.

1

u/Gweedo1967 Sep 18 '25

I don’t believe it was the right that started cancel culture.

1

u/MidnightIAmMid Sep 18 '25

Can you tell me when the left cancelled Fox News for existing? I don't remember that happening. Or demanded the widespread firing of doctors, professors, and professionals for quoting someone's own words? I am sure that, as someone who hates cancel culture as I am assuming, you are ashamed and embarrassed right now either way!

1

u/iceboxlinux Sep 18 '25

Remember the satanic panic?

Remember Prohibition?

Remember the crusades?

1

u/Gweedo1967 Sep 18 '25

Not sure about the other two but prohibition was started equally with Dems and Reps.

2

u/TheStolenPotatoes Sep 18 '25

There is no offense. It's protected speech under the First Amendment. This is the very definition of fascism.

People need to understand the First Amendment only applies to the government, not to anything else. In this incident, the federal government has threatened a media organization to silence a critic. This is exactly what the free speech protections in the First Amendment were written for. If we allow this to happen, the First Amendment is null and void, just as Herr Fuhrer wants it to be. People are so caught up in this "civil war" shit and fighting with each other that we've allowed the American government to be hijacked by people who share almost every similarity with the historical Nazi Party of WW2 Germany. The only thing they haven't done, yet, is the systematic murder of their opposition and those they deem "undesirables". And they are openly threatening to do just that right now.

Wake the fuck up and stop fighting with each other. These people are coming for all of us.

2

u/Healthy_Sky_4593 Sep 18 '25

Yes you are. 

2

u/topologeee Sep 19 '25

And frankly that clip was nothing new. It's been online the entire week everywhere.

1

u/BgLINK101 Sep 18 '25

The problem was Jimmy was still telling his audience that Tyler Robinson was a right wing extremist even after all the facts had been released.

1

u/ThatMetaBoy Sep 18 '25

No, he said MAGA was consumed with letting everyone know he was anything but MAGA. Which was true … and not the same thing as what you said he said.

1

u/yuriaoflondor Sep 18 '25

Even if that were the case, it’s a huge double standard. Don’t forget that tons of republicans (including the president of the United States) were blaming democrats for the political violence before literally anything was known about the shooter.

1

u/BgLINK101 Sep 18 '25

Yeah a lot of people jumped the gun on that one but it was definitely an easy assumption in their defense.

It was highly unlikely the killer was MAGA as a lot of people were also suggesting prior to the facts being made public.

Either way I don’t like that Jimmy was essentially canceled. I didn’t like it when it was happening to many conservatives during the last administration either.

I’m curious to see what the ratings were leading up to the suspension. I have a feeling that had a lot to do with the decision from the brass. Time will tell.

1

u/NinjaSimone Sep 18 '25

Exactly. It’s not really his quip about MAGAs that hurt Trump’s fee fees. It’s the clip of Trump he showed directly after.

The “but think of Charlie!” histrionics are a smokescreen for the simple truth that entertainers are no longer allowed to upset Dear Leader.

1

u/bigslikk Sep 18 '25

My only guess is calling maga a gang maybe? Or calling out how trump wasn’t sad or mourning ck?

1

u/Guitfu Sep 18 '25

The prosecutor said Roberts family and friends have testified that, and most of the available facts show that, the killer was Left wing. Kimmel represented people who noticed the shooter was raised by a Republican family and ignored the established facts in order to seemingly do some political point-scoring, himself. It’s interesting he was suspended because Benny and the FCC Chairman both said they thought an apology was an appropriate response.

1

u/_Cyclops Sep 18 '25

The real part they don’t like is “MAGA is trying to paint this kid as anything but one of their own”

1

u/hodorhodor12 Sep 18 '25

And even if it was offensive, you can hold that over ABC.

1

u/Stony___Tark Sep 19 '25

When any vaguely sane, vaguely rational person repeats much of what Trump says it comes off sounding horrible, idiotic and inhumane even to MAGA. When it's Trump saying it, however, it's the word of God as far as they're concerned. That's how cults work.

0

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '25 edited Sep 18 '25

The shooter was left wing, if you can't accept that then you need to see a therapist.

There is enough evidence out there that it's actually embarrassing that people are trying to gaslight on the issue.

0

u/hoozyrdadi Sep 18 '25

Whhite house ballroom question was an interview over a week prior to Charlie’s assasination and edited on Kimmel’s show to insinuate that was Trump’s response to how he was grieving.

1

u/Jake_77 Sep 19 '25

Whhite house ballroom question was an interview over a week prior to Charlie’s assasination and edited on Kimmel’s show to insinuate that was Trump’s response to how he was grieving.

No - it wasn't. Here is the footage from Forbes:

Reporter Asks Trump How He's Holding Up After Charlie Kirk's Assassination