More than 100 central Ohioans protested in front of the Columbus ABC affiliate WSYX ABC 6 in response to Sinclair Broadcast Group choosing not to air Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show after Disney reinstated it.
Indivisible Central Ohio hosted a free speech protest Tuesday, in response to the Disney Company originally deciding to suspend Kimmel’s late-night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” after Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr threatened ABC on a podcast. The threats came after Kimmel made comments about the murder of political activist Charlie Kirk on the show.
“The MAGA gang (is) desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said during his show last week.
Disney announced Monday it was bringing Kimmel’s show back starting Tuesday night.
“I am incredibly grateful that Jimmy Kimmel is going to be on television again,” Common Cause Ohio Executive Director Catherine Turcer said at the protest. “But I am scared of how quickly Disney and ABC essentially said, ‘Oh, they’re coming after us. Oh, they’re things that we need from the government. We can’t push back. We can’t actually protect free speech.’ And that decision was really, really painful.”
The canceling of Kimmel’s show led to major backlash, with some people calling it limiting free speech and a violation of the First Amendment.
“It was scary because this is not what democracy should look like,” Turcer said. “This is not what a functioning republic should look like. … If (President Donald Trump is) willing to go after talk show hosts, do you think they really want us speaking? No … We deserve free speech, and we need to protect it.”
However, not every ABC station is airing Kimmel’s late-night show.
Sinclair — which owns the Dayton and Columbus ABC affiliate stations — is not broadcasting Kimmel’s show. Instead, those ABC affiliates are preempting the show and airing news programming during the time slot, according to The New York Times. Nexstar said it is pre-empting Kimmel’s show indefinitely.
“Mr. Kimmel’s remarks were inappropriate and deeply insensitive at a critical moment for our country,” Sinclair Vice Chairman Jason Smith said last week in a statement. “We believe broadcasters have a responsibility to educate and elevate respectful, constructive dialogue in our communities.”
Sinclair is calling on Kimmel to issue an apology to the Kirk family and make a “meaningful personal donation” to the Kirk family and Turning Point USA.
“We can all see something that’s funny, hear something that’s funny, and it makes us think more deeply,” Turcer said. “This was an attack on our ability to actually think and work through things, and an opportunity, not just for Jimmy Kimmel to have a voice, but for all of us to have a voice now.”
This is bigger than Kimmel, ABC, and Sinclair, said Gary Daniels, ACLU of Ohio’s legislative director.
“Free speech does not protect itself,” he said at the protest. “People protect free speech. You protect free speech.”
Originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal. Republished here with permission.