DAVID BOZELL: ABC right to suspend Jimmy Kimmel indefinitely over Charlie Kirk lies

ABC has suspended late-night host Jimmy Kimmel “indefinitely” after he spread falsehoods about Charlie Kirk’s murder. Unlike others who have apologized for reckless commentary, Kimmel has offered no public correction. He has doubled down. He either lied or was badly misinformed. Either way, his refusal to take responsibility for his comments is unacceptable.

The media landscape erupted after Kirk’s tragic death. Professors, pundits and well-known TV personalities jumped online to cheer it or excuse it. MSNBC’s Matthew Dowd claimed Charlie’s words courted the violence. For that, he lost his job. Several professors were fired. Office Depot terminated an employee who refused service to Kirk mourners. Some on the left are trying to spin these dismissals as conservatives embracing “cancel culture.” That argument collapses under the weight of basic facts.

Cancel culture has always been about silencing dissent and enforcing conformity to the liberal agenda. Christians who refused to march in lockstep with new orthodoxies were stripped of jobs, deplatformed, denied banking services and hounded from public life. Conservatives never demanded that liberals change their private beliefs — only that liberals stop weaponizing those beliefs to punish dissenters.

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What’s happening now looks different. Private companies are distancing themselves from employees who smeared a man murdered in cold blood. Businesses don’t exist to serve radical ideology. They exist to serve customers. When an employee brings shame on the company by cheering violence, a corporation has every right to say: not on our watch.

Kimmel’s case is especially egregious. He used ABC’s platform to tell millions of viewers that Charlie Kirk was shot by a supporter — a claim completely untrue. Kimmel should have known what had been widely reported over the weekend: the killer is a left-wing radical. 

Kimmel could have corrected the record as soon as the indictment came out Tuesday, but he didn’t. He could have walked into the studio, looked into the camera and said plainly that he was wrong. He didn’t. He could have honored the grieving family by admitting he maligned their husband and father. Again, he didn’t.

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Americans can accept mistakes. But when you say something outrageous on national television, accountability requires saying the correction where you said the offense — into the same camera, to the same audience. Kimmel instead hid behind silence.

That pattern is familiar. Left-wing media figures mock conservatives, smear Christians and vilify Republicans as “threats to democracy.” When caught, they retreat to a social media apology or ignore it altogether. But they expect America to move on, leaving the stain uncorrected in the public mind. Conservatives are right to reject that double standard.

The First Amendment protects free speech, even vile speech. No one is arguing otherwise. The Constitution protects Kimmel’s right to be wrong, just as it protected racists in the 1960s and radicals in Antifa marches. But free speech does not guarantee a primetime television contract.

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The FCC also looms in this debate. Broadcast licenses are granted free of charge on the condition that they serve the public interest. If networks consistently use the public airwaves to smear half the country, they are failing their mandate. Nothing about that principle is new or partisan. The public interest means the whole public, not just the left-wing slice Kimmel caters to.

Charlie Kirk lived to a higher standard. He invited detractors to debate him in open forums, on college campuses, even in hostile territory. He didn’t fear ideas. He welcomed them, convinced that truth prevails in the sunlight of open discussion. That contrast with Kimmel is striking. One man fought to broaden speech; the other used his perch to lie.

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The left doesn’t know what to do with this shift. For decades, they controlled the microphone. Now, conservatives are calling out their hate in real time, and employers are responding. Suddenly, the self-styled champions of accountability cry “cancel culture” when the mirror turns back on them.

Charlie’s death is not fodder for ideological games. He was a husband, a father and a leader who reshaped the political landscape by inspiring millions of young Americans. He deserves honesty in the coverage of his life and dignity in the wake of his murder. Jimmy Kimmel denied him both.

America deserves better from its media. We should not accept lies without correction. We should not accept hosts who mock the dead and then slink away without apology. And we should not confuse accountability with censorship. Kimmel either lied or was woefully ignorant. In either case, his silence speaks louder than any joke he ever told.

Charlie Kirk built his life on truth, faith and courage. Conservatives honor his legacy not by canceling opponents but by demanding integrity from those who presume to inform the public.

Free speech remains secure. What hangs in the balance is honesty — and that’s where Kimmel failed. 

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