Americans watched in real time as ABC temporarily yanked Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show after his on-air monologue about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk sparked outrage. The suspension followed public pressure from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and a wave of affiliate stations, including Nexstar and Sinclair, who stopped broadcasting the show in several markets.
Left-wing late-night hosts have long treated prime-time airwaves as their personal propaganda platforms, and Kimmel’s latest episode was no exception — a careless monologue that conflated facts and opinion during a national tragedy. Conservatives aren’t asking for censorship of comedians’ private platforms; we’re demanding accountability from networks that operate under public broadcast licenses.
President Trump publicly suggested that networks repeatedly attacking him and his movement should face scrutiny over their broadcast licenses, and FCC Chairman Carr openly signaled the agency was looking into the matter. That’s not some authoritarian power play — it’s a reminder that those who use taxpayer-supported airwaves have obligations to the public they serve. If networks break those rules by deliberately misleading viewers, the people’s regulators should investigate.
Critics angrily warn of “jawboning” and government overreach, but the real threat is unaccountable media elites weaponizing entertainment to influence elections and public life. Media companies like Disney enjoy immense market power and special privileges; it is reasonable — and patriotic — to use legal and regulatory tools to ensure they do not abuse those privileges. This is about restoring balance and fairness, not muzzling dissent.
Some establishment voices try to dress this up as a free-speech crisis, but free speech does not mean freedom from consequences. When a major network host spreads misleading claims on broadcast television, affiliates and regulators are entitled to respond. Conservative Americans see a double standard when left-leaning media escape scrutiny while conservative voices face deplatforming; enforcing broadcast standards is a way to push back against that hypocrisy.
Donald Trump and other conservative leaders are right to press the issue aggressively — not through lawless threats but by using the tools available: FCC oversight, contract and licensing reviews, and good-faith legal challenges where appropriate. We should want our leaders to defend ordinary Americans from a media cartel that routinely presents opinion as fact and shields its allies from accountability. This fight is about fairness for viewers, advertisers, and every citizen who expects honest reporting from outlets that use public airwaves.
Hollywood’s predictable chorus of outrage will fulminate about “attacks on the free press,” but their real grievance is losing their monopoly on cultural influence. The question for conservatives is simple: will we allow a handful of conglomerates to lecture the country while enjoying government-granted privileges, or will we insist those privileges carry responsibility? The American people deserve media that answers to them, not to partisan elites.
At the end of the day, this episode exposed a rotten status quo — late-night shows and national networks operating as political organs with far more power than accountability. Conservatives should rally behind lawful, constitutionally grounded efforts to hold broadcasters to standards of truth and decency, and we should applaud officials who finally act instead of looking the other way. If that makes the elitist media establishment howl, so be it — we are fighting for the country they keep taking for granted.
