There are few things more tiresome than celebrities celebrating celebrity, but the nonstop coverage of Jimmy Kimmel’s indefinite suspension for saying something true—if, in retrospect, possibly ill-timed—is important.
As the Guardian reminds us,
For comedians around the world, the laughs often end as democracy fades
Silencing of Jimmy Kimmel sets US on course similar to that charted by authoritarian regimes from Egypt to India
The exiled Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef has experienced firsthand how intolerant governments can silence political satire. And he had a short message this week for those living in an age of Donald Trump’s free speech clampdown: “My Fellow American Citizens,” he wrote on X. “Welcome to my world.”
And The New York Times headlines,
Threatening Broadcasters, Trump Takes a Page From the World’s Autocrats
“Controlling information and media is the one of the early and necessary steps of the authoritarian,” said Jennifer McCoy, a professor of political science at Georgia State University who studies the deterioration of democracy. “Then, repressing dissent and criticism, not just among the media, but among political opponents and citizens follows.”
At the five-hour memorial service for Charlie Kirk which drew tens of thousands to a football stadium in Arizona, Donald Trump spoke for 45 minutes in what the Guardian called “an awkward mix of eulogy and campaign speech, during which he frequently veered away from reading somber remarks about Kirk’s life and violent death to make offhand comments and jokes.”
He mentioned his use of federal forces to police cities and took a moment to promote an announcement at the White House on Monday. “I think we found an answer to autism. How about that? Autism: tomorrow we are going to be talking in the Oval Office in the White House about autism,” the president said.1
In Arizona, Donald Trump followed up on what Charlie Kirk’s widow said when she spoke immediately before him and said she forgives the man charged with killing her husband.
“My husband, he wanted to save young men, just like the one who took his life. That man, that young man – I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and it is what Charlie would do.”
What would Trump do? Exactly what you expect. Again, from the Guardian:
At one point, Trump mentioned that, shortly before he died, Kirk told a staff member he was not afraid of students who disagreed with him in the crowd at Utah Valley University. “I’m not here to fight them – I want them to know them and love them,” Trump quoted Kirk as saying. “In that private moment on his dying day, we find everything we need to know about who Charlie Kirk truly was.”
“He did not hate his opponents, he wanted the best for them,” Trump said, before breaking from his prepared remarks to add: “That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponents, and I don’t want the best for them, I’m sorry.” (video—if you can stand it—here.)
And since Trump likes to cram everything he’s thinking about into whatever he’s talking about at the moment2, he added this to his eulogy:
Trump also claimed Kirk had urged him to dispatch federal troops to Chicago. “One of the last things he said to me was ‘Please sir, save Chicago’.
And then there was Trump’s weird little dance to America the Beautiful while standing next to Kirk’s widow. Like many seven-year olds, Donald Trump has a hard time standing still and doing nothing. Remember Andrew Giuliani3 at his father Rudy’s 1994 swearing-in?
Speaking of comic relief, Jon Stewart reminded us of how important he is to the current conversation, and how he avoids feeding into that celebrities celebrating celebrity ecosystem with sharp, trenchant and essential satire. His network isn’t called Satire Central, but with shows like South Park and the Daily Show, it should be.
In an earlier post, I mentioned that as someone who’s traded in political satire, I found it alarming that the young man charged with the assassination of Charlie Kirk was immersed in a video game that had to affix a warning label to itself because too many of its fans saw it as a handbook for creating a new fascist regime.
Satire has never been the most popular comedy genre. The playwright and screenwriter for the Marx Brothers, George S. Kaufman, famously said “satire is what closes on Saturday night,” following his experience with a work that failed to even reach Broadway. Potty jokes are easy. Satire is hard.
I haven’t been watching much of Jon Stewart lately, and not for the same reasons why I’ve tuned out Joe and Mika and my local NPR station’s excellent news panel. I’m still tired of all the garment-rending, tut-tutting and bemoaning the fate of democracy that fills those airwaves. Aren’t we just talking to ourselves?
But I’ve soured a little on Jon Stewart because his humor is also making me a little sad. Sure, he’s hilarious and totally right—but the fact that more people aren’t outraged by that is more than a little depressing.
I’m going to have to get over myself. Now that I’ve seen this clip, I’m reminded how much we need Jon Stewart. Everything about it is note-perfect, from the obsequiousness and facial expressions of the host to the robotic recitations of state media party lines. Watch the whole thing. Read the transcript. (You’re welcome).
Donald Trump’s war on free speech is just getting started, but it’s worth knowing how the pressure on ABC to suspend Jimmy Kimmel began. This story has a lot to do with the scourge of media consolidation. Here’s background and a timeline from the Times:
The suspension was the latest demonstration of how members of the Trump administration have been able to influence the operations of media companies without imposing new policies. In this case, a broadcaster that is pursuing a $6 billion merger, which must be approved by the Federal Communications Commission, put pressure on ABC before the network’s parent company, Disney, announced its decision to suspend Mr. Kimmel’s show.
Would Jimmy Kimmel have been cancelled without the heavy hand of Nexstar, Sinclair and Tegna?
After Trump’s FCC Chair, Brendan Carr, said on a right-wing podcast that local stations should “push back” and “pre-empt” coverage that did not serve “their local communities,” Nexstar, which owns 32 ABC affiliates, said it would “pre-empt ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ for the foreseeable future,” and added: “Nexstar strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk.”
From that Times story: (It’s a gift!)
Nexstar has good reason to try to appease the F.C.C. at the moment: In August, the company announced that it intended to buy one of its competitors, Tegna, which owns 13 ABC affiliate stations. But in order for the deal to go through, Mr. Carr and the F.C.C. would have to not only approve it, but also potentially raise the nationwide cap on the percentage of households a single entity’s television stations are allowed to reach.
Broadcasters have pushed the government for decades to raise or repeal the cap, which is currently set at 39 percent. If the Nexstar-Tegna deal goes through, Nexstar’s reach is likely to exceed the limit.
Shortly after Nexstar’s announcement, Sinclair, a company that owns 31 ABC affiliate stations, said it would also suspend Mr. Kimmel’s program.
Of ABC’s 205 affiliate stations, 63 are owned by Nexstar and Sinclair, and another 13 are owned by Tegna.
Jimmy Kimmel matters because while all of us aren’t voters—as I keep complaining about—most of us are media consumers. And the media is increasingly fucked.4
Jon Stewart matters because satire matters. And satire is dangerous.
Good for satire.
“Federal health officials are expected to raise concerns about pregnant women’s use of acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol and one of the most widely used medications globally,” reports The Washington Post. Meanwhile, Axios reports:
Between the lines: Some studies have found that prenatal exposure to the pain medication increased the risk of both autism spectrum disorder and ADHD.
But a large study of data from more than 2 million children in Sweden concluded last year there was no connection.
Earlier, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists concluded there's no clear evidence of a relationship between prudent use of acetaminophen.
See Tylenol.
You didn’t know Trump had a mini-me back in ‘94, did you? Bonus points for knowing what Andrew Guiliani’s current job is in the Trump Administration—it’s Executive Director of the White House Task Force on the FIFA World Cup 2026, within the Department of Homeland Security.
Can I say that on Substack? I hesitated….