Kimmel Apologist David French Doesn’t Care About ‘Free Speech’
the article addresses the controversy surrounding the cancellation of Jimmy KimmelS late-night show following his handling of the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. It highlights that many leftists, including New york Times columnist David French, expressed more outrage over Kimmel’s firing than the violent attack on Kirk. The cancellation was prompted by Kimmel’s violation of FCC rules when he falsely labeled Kirk’s alleged assassin as “MAGA” without evidence. Despite this legitimate reason, French and others framed the removal as an assault on free speech.
The piece criticizes Kimmel’s repeated offenses, including misinformation and mocking of conservatives and Christians, arguing that his suspension is a long-overdue enforcement of existing regulations. it also accuses French and like-minded commentators of selectively defending free speech, ignoring past left-wing efforts to silence conservatives via Big Tech and media cancellations. The article suggests that French’s defence is less about free speech principles and more about protecting left-wing allies from accountability under the current Republican governance. the piece argues that the backlash over Kimmel’s cancellation exposes a double standard regarding free speech and censorship in America.
A not-so-insignificant number of leftists expended more effort this week lamenting the cancellation of a late-night talk show than mourning the assassination of Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk. New York Times Opinion Columnist and former Facebook censorship partner David French, in particular, took the news that at least two media groups dropped Jimmy Kimmel Live! and ABC indefinitely suspended it over the host’s on-air treatment of the Kirk tragedy hard.
As Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr noted earlier this week, Jimmy Kimmel blatantly violated FCC rules when he falsely asserted, against all evidence, that Kirk’s alleged assassin was “MAGA.”
The legitimate reason for pulling Kimmel’s TV spot, however, hasn’t stopped the left or French from lamenting private companies’ protected decisions to drop the talk show as “yet another direct attack on free speech.”
It’s important to note that Kimmel, in addition to mocking Christians and conservatives, is a routine offender of the FCC’s prohibition on falsities and potentially other federal statutes. This behavior has undoubtedly put his show at risk of removal for years, but no one has been bold enough to follow through until now.
Enforcing regulations already on the books is, of course, well within the purview of the FCC and Carr. In fact, it should be expected — especially by the same people who spent the last four years yelling “no one is above the law.”
Yet, in a New York Times column published less than 24 hours after news of Kimmel’s downfall broke, French accused the Trump administration of “making matters worse” by “using Kirk’s death as a pretext to threaten a sweeping crackdown on President Trump’s political and cultural opponents.”
French also claimed that Kimmel’s comments, which put even more Christians and conservatives at risk of harm from leftists, had simply “gotten something wrong on his late-night TV show.” Kimmel’s history of lying and deceitfulness designed to make conservatives look bad, however, suggests otherwise.
That same day, French promoted his column in a post suggesting that the “free speech” implications of cutting Kimmel were of the same magnitude as the brutal murder of Kirk.
“We’ve never seen a comprehensive attack on free speech like this in our lifetimes. The assassin’s attack on Charlie Kirk was also an attack on free speech. [The] administration’s crackdown on speech is egregious. And more people support political violence. It’s all so bad,” French wrote on X.
If the end of Kimmel’s show is truly a free speech violation, there would be an onslaught of lawsuits demanding his First Amendment rights be honored. Instead, all the left has is an article from Politico claiming that the Supreme Court’s approach to the Biden administration’s attempt to silence its political enemies via Big Tech means Kimmel has “precedent on his side” and French’s X feed.
For years, conservatives have endured aggressive attempts to cancel their advertisers and shows, kick them off of Big Tech platforms, and silence their online discussions about important topics such as Covid-19. If French et. al. actually cared about free speech, they would have adamantly opposed all such efforts and done everything in their power to stop them. Instead, people like French joined in the muzzling and cheered the censorship as right and necessary.
In a clear “rules for thee, but not for me” or mine fashion, French and so many others whining over Kimmel only believe “the government clearly has an interest in correcting misinformation” if the content in question offends the left’s preferred narrative.
This was especially apparent when French called Twitter’s deplatforming of the sitting American president an “actual exercise of liberty.”
It’s also why he (along with so many others) cheered when ABC canceled “toxic” Roseanne Barr’s show in 2018 over a tweet (aka free speech), but fretted when Sinclair and Nexstar ceased broadcasting Kimmel over his on-air lies.
The contrast in how French treated the last four years of First Amendment infringements and the indefinite suspension of Kimmel proves he never cared about real free speech. He’s simply angry that his allies are facing long-overdue accountability on a Republican administration’s terms.
Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on X @jordanboydtx.
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