After days of gloating that Jimmy Kimmel got suspended by ABC over his comments regarding Charlie Kirk, the Media Research Center seemed a little sad about the development Curtis Houck had to announce in a Sept. 22 post:
On Monday afternoon, ABC announced it had decided far-left, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel would be allowed to return to his eponymous show Tuesday night, six days after the shocking and welcome suspension for his vile comments about Charlie Kirk’s assassination and spreading a conspiracy theory that the suspect might have been a Make America Great Again supporter.
Being a loyal shill for his employer, Houck made sure to note that “even by the admission of The New York Times, our Alex Christy helped go viral and subsequently drove outrage from advertisers, local affiliates that forced Disney’s hand.” He then whined that “CNN was ebullient in sharing the news about their triumphant hero, who’s a personal friend to many in the liberal media (including The Lead host Jake Tapper).”
Meanwhile, the MRC’s hate-watchers of “The View” finally got some satisfaction after being denied the previous week, with intern Isaac White doing the hate-watching du jour:
After avoiding last week’s looming story of parent company ABC suspending Jimmy Kimmel, The View finally broached the subject on Monday and hours ahead of ABC announcing Kimmel would return on Tuesday.
Of course, this didn’t come without a self-righteous lecture on the importance of free speech and how those on the show embody the American principle.
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg opened, “Did y’all really think we weren’t going to talk about Jimmy Kimmel? I mean, have you watched the show over the last 29 seasons? So you know no one silences us.” That darn First Amendment strikes again.
Obviously, the program needed to be cleared of any suspicion that they needed approval from Disney to even mention the suspension. “And when the news broke last week about Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension, we took a breath to see if Jimmy was going to say anything about it first. We did the same thing with Stephen Colbert,” Goldberg added.
Their response to the Colbert cancellation was slow as well. But every far-left talk show is on edge right now.
White didn’t bother to support his claim about “far-left” talk shows.
The MRC’s nepo-baby boss found another right-wing safe space to spout his anti-media narrative without fear of ever being challenged:
MRC President David Bozell joined The Joe Concha Tunnel to Towers Foundation Show Sunday morning to break down the real reason ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel.
Kimmel didn’t get suspended for bad jokes; he got fired for lying. If he wasn’t lying, his bubble is such a left-wing cocoon that he didn’t know what he said was patently false. That’s why he’s suffering this fate. Affiliates want to preserve their business and customers, who are saying, ‘Stop beaming this guy into my screen. I’m not paying for this anymore. I’m going to cut the cord and go to Charlie’s network, Joe Concha’s streaming podcast, or Tucker’s network to be informed and entertained.’ There are options now.
Bozell explained to Concha’s national audience Kimmel’s suspension wasn’t about free speech. “There’s an old adage in the television business: keep the affiliates happy,” Bozell said.
“Yes, Jimmy Kimmel has the freedom to say whatever he wants, but from a business perspective, he has to keep the affiliates happy. If you’re going to lie or woefully misinform your audience and then be given the opportunity to correct the record—and according to the Hollywood Reporter, he wanted to double down on it instead of correcting it—the affiliates really have no choice. There are about 120 markets across the country, and about 60 of them told ABC. No más. We don’t want to put up with this guy anymore. Our customers are cutting the cord, and we’re in the cord preservation business.”
Houck returned to grouse that non-right-wing media celebrated Kimmel’s return, unlike his fellow MRC censors:
CNN was feeling warm and fuzzy Monday afternoon in reacting to Disney’s decision to allow Jimmy Kimmel to return Tuesday night to his late-night ABC show, declaring it “a critical moment when it comes to free speech,” “a huge moment in American history,” and akin to The Avengers coming together with Hollywood, “the left,” and “Kimmel’s audience” forming to make an “unstoppable” force.
CNN News Central had chief media analyst Brian Stelter deliver the news:
[…]The liberal media still don’t get it and how much of the country has had enough of their decades of hate.
You mean like how much of the country had enough of Rush Limbuagh when he went on a three-day misogynistic tirade against Sandra Fluke — a tirade that the MRC aggressively defended and rewarded?
Jorge Bonilla gushed that two major TV ownership groups will refuse to air Kimmel:
As reported by Ben Mullin of The New York Times, Nexstar has just issued its statement announcing that they will continue to pre-empt Jimmy Kimmel Live! “pending assurance that all parties are committed to fostering an environment of respectful, constructive dialogue in the markets we serve.”
[…]Thus, Nexstar joins Sinclair in maintaining its refusal to air Kimmel barring some significant show of contrition. As our own Curtis Houck notes, that’s over half of ABC’s affiliates refusing to carry its late-night offering. Pyrrhic victory, indeed.
[…]It remains to be seen what is the end result of these negotiations, and whether the announced pre-emption holds before Kimmel returns to air. Sinclair previously announced that they were airing a special on Charlie Kirk’s life on Friday and in that Kimmel timeslot, before releasing it on YouTube.
Sinclair is on the record demanding that Kimmel apologize for his statements and make “a meaningful personal donation to the Kirk Family and Turning Point USA.” But The New York Post reports that no such apology is forthcoming[.]
Bonilla failed to mention the likely ulterior motives both groups have to continuing to censor Kimmel’s show: As we noted, Nexstar is seeking Trump administration approval for its planned merger with Tegna, and Sinclair has always been a right-wing shill.
Bonilla concluded by huffing: “We’ll know more after Tuesday night once Kimmel’s moral lecture is in the wind. Will some vague expression of regret suffice for Sinclair, or do they hold out for the requested apology and personal donations? Time will tell.” Then again, the MRC though Limbaugh’s lame semi-apology for his disgusting smears of Fluke was more than sufficient to defend his hate.