Selective 'Cancel Culture' Outrage

ABC's late night TV host, Jimmy Kimmel 

Free speech advocates on the left are absolutely apoplectic over ABC’s abrupt cancelation of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night TV show. He was canceled for making a reprehensible comment suggesting that Charlie Kirk’s murderer was just as likely to be a MAGA supporter as an anti-MAGA supporter. Don’t think so? Judge for yourself. Here is the offending comment:

“The MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them” and trying to “score political points from it.”

For the record, I don’t think his show should have been canceled over that. He should be entitled to say whatever he pleases, as long as it doesn’t incite violence. I do not believe this comment came anywhere near doing that. That said, I also believe an employer has the right to fire anyone they choose for any reason, provided it does not violate their civil rights. If an employee’s behavior harms the company’s bottom line, that is surely cause for dismissal.

Be that as it may, I can’t say I’m not happy about it. I am. To the best of my knowledge, Jimmy Kimmel is a nice guy. A family man, kind to others, who has never hurt a soul. And he has a great sense of humor.

But Kimmel also represents exactly what is wrong with the entertainment industry, which wields enormous influence over public opinion. That influence is steeped in a left-leaning philosophy that, for example, glorifies the LGBTQ agenda while dismissing anyone who dares to oppose it as ignorant Neanderthals seeking to deny a vulnerable community their civil rights. This is the universal approach of nearly every prominent name in entertainment. To finally see one of those powerful voices removed from the air is, in my view, a positive step towards the values I cherish.

One of the main accusations leveled at ABC is that it caved to political pressure from the White House—as though Kimmel had never before insulted the president or his MAGA supporters. That is patently false. Late-night comedians like Kimmel (and perhaps even more so, Stephen Colbert) have been ridiculing the president and his supporters from the very beginning of his first term. In all those years, no one suggested canceling his show.

But this time, the comment wasn’t a joke. If there was humor in it, I fail to see it. It was a deliberate smear of the president and his supporters—using the tragedy of an assassination to score political points, while accusing the other side of doing the same. That’s what caused FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to complain, and what ultimately moved ABC to cancel the show.

What fascinates me (not in a positive way) is the selective outrage from the left over what is now widely recognized as ‘cancel culture.’ That’s when someone is ‘canceled’ for expressing an opinion that does not align with the prevailing cultural orthodoxy. Until now, the left denied it even existed. But clearly it does. Some examples:

• In 2011, Glenn Beck lost his Fox News program after advertiser boycotts tied to his sharp political commentary.
• In 2017, Professor Jordan Peterson faced publishing boycotts, speaking cancellations, and demonetization attempts after refusing to comply with gender pronoun legislation.
• In 2019, J.K. Rowling faced boycotts and disinvitations over her gender-critical views.
• In 2020, opinion columnist Bari Weiss was bullied into resigning from The New York Times, largely because of her outspoken support for Israel.
• In 2018, ABC canceled Roseanne Barr’s hit TV show after she tweeted what was widely perceived as a racist remark about Valerie Jarrett.

That last case is especially relevant to Kimmel’s cancelation. Unlike the uproar over his free speech rights, not a peep was heard from today’s free speech warriors in defense of Roseanne Barr. In fact, quite the opposite happened. Her cancelation was loudly cheered. Barr’s explanation that her remark was not intended as racist fell on deaf ears.

But when one of their own gets canceled? Suddenly, it’s an affront to free speech. I guess free speech only matters when it serves your own agenda.

That’s the thing about self-righteous political views. Those who hold them are true believers. They think their views are expressions of incontrovertible, self-evident truth that cannot be refuted by any rational person. So, when their ox is gored, they feel extreme moral outrage. But when their opponent’s ox is gored, well, that’s just fine—because their opponent’s ox was ‘immoral’ and deserved it.

And yes, friends, that is the world we live in. It’s why Israel’s war for survival is now painted as genocide. You cannot argue logic or facts with people whose self-righteous worldview is immovable. They watch TV, and they ‘know’ what’s happening: IDF soldiers are just a bunch of Nazi storm troopers.

With the cancelation of Kimmel and the looming end of Stephen Colbert’s show, there is at least some hope that the dominant left-leaning cultural influence might begin to shift.

As for Kimmel’s future? I would have no problem with his show being restored, provided he issues an apology to the president’s supporters - and generally stops treating them as ignorant Neanderthals, which his humor often suggested. If he wants to criticize the their conservative policies through comedy, he should do so with a modicum of humility - treating his opponents as equals with different views, not as morons to be endlessly ridiculed.