US late night host Jimmy Kimmel has had his programme pulled over “offensive and insensitive” comments about the late Charlie Kirk.
Kimmel hosts Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which has since been removed from air after comments the host made about the murdered conservative activist.
David Smith, Washington Bureau Chief with The Guardian spoke with Shane Coleman on Newstalk Breakfast about the situation as it stands.
Jimmy Kimmel
“Jimmy Kimmel, one of the leading late night TV hosts in America, had a monologue on Monday where he said: ‘We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang, trying to characterise this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them to score political points from it.'
“The objection from Trump and his supporters is that phrase ‘one of them’. When it turns to the suspect in the killing of Charlie Kirk, his politics remain a bit hazy, he doesn’t seem to have an affiliation to Democrats but certainly not Republicans.
"The prosecutors did say that he was moving more to the left and he accused Charlie Kirk of hatred."
Mr. Smith was asked what he thought propelled the sudden suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live!
“There was a bit of an outcry in terms of what is becoming a bit of a witchhunt for anyone who says anything remotely critical of Charlie Kirk.
"An important player in this was the [Federal Communications Commission] which is a body that oversees communications in the US.
“Its chairman - Brendan Carr - had encouraged broadcasters to stop broadcasting the Jimmy Kimmel [show], and raised the prospects of fines or even licensings being revoked if they didn’t follow that - and it has appeared that that threat has worked."
Mr. Smith was then asked if he believed there was a possibility for Jimmy Kimmel to return to the show.
‘I find that hard to predict. Certainly, the phrase 'indefinitely' was used for its [the show’s] suspension.
"There's a possibility he may not come back, partly because of this Trump crackdown on free speech, frankly, and partly also because late night television is on the wane.
"We’ve already seen the Late Night show with Stephen Colbert cancelled in politically-controversial circumstances not long ago.
The question of freedom of speech has now been raised in relation to this move, as it is an integral part of the United States Constitution.
“The death of Charlie Kirk appears to be used as a pretext by Trump and his allies to launch this crackdown [on freedom of speech].
"They’ve been using very inflammatory language to portray their political opponents as ‘domestic terrorists’ in their words, as enemies of the state, it’s all incredibly ominous” says Mr. Smith.
“Just today I was interviewing experts who have studied authoritarianism around the world and they say this is the classic model: to latch on to some act of violence to launch a huge crackdown on civil liberties.
“In this instance, the activities of one man who had no formal connection to one political party, very easily gets conflated with the entire Democratic Party, [despite] their members having roundly condemned the killing of Charlie Kirk.
"But, in this era, one social media post by one person can be used to paint a whole party with that same brush."
