KIMMEL vs ROGAN
BROADCASTER vs CREATOR
Happy Monday Peaceniks. Ready for a Man Show Cage Match?
On September 10, right wing activist Charlie Kirk was murdered. Kirk ran the political action group called Turning Point USA. He hosted a daily podcast/radio show called The Charlie Kirk Show, which reached between 500,000 and 750,000 people daily. Despite the lack of a “mainstream” media outlet, such as a television show on broadcast, cable, or streaming, Kirk had an enormous influence on American culture. His death has become an all-consuming geo-political flashpoint.
On September 15 and 16, late night talk show host, Jimmy Kimmel made comments and/or jokes about Kirk’s killer, claiming that the suspect held views sympathetic to the ultra far right and that supporters of the current president were attempting to capitalize on Kirk’s killing for their own political gain. It should be noted that there are numerous and conflicting accounts of the suspect’s motives.
On September 17, FCC Chair Brendan Carr - who authored the section of Project 2025 calling for a transformation of the Federal Communications Commission to make it less biased against voices from the right and who has targeted news outlets and media companies that criticize the sitting president - threatened to investigate ABC (the broadcast network that airs Kimmel’s show) and to pull ABC’s FCC licenses if they did not take actions to fire or suspend the comedian (who once hosted the bawdy cable TV series, The Man Show).
The same day as Carr’s threats, appearing as if they might be coordinated, the largest owner of local television stations in the country, Nexstar, said they would pull the feed for Jimmy Kimmel Live! if ABC did not take Kimmel off the air. It should be noted that Nexstar recently announced that they will acquire Tegna, who owns sixty-four local TV affiliates — a deal that must be approved by (wait for it) the FCC. Less than an hour after Nexstar threatened to pull the ABC late night feed, Disney, the parent company of ABC, suspended Jimmy Kimmel “indefinitely.”
UPDATE: On Monday, September 22, Disney announced they were suspending Kimmel’s suspension and that Jimmy Kimmel Live! would return to ABC on Tuesday, September 23 - something, which you will read in a minute, that I believe is a big mistake for Jimmy.
Here’s the thing about all of this: The FCC cannot simply "revoke” ABC’s licenses for Kimmel’s comments. First, the Commission would need to file a Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL), detailing all alleged violations and their proposed penalty. The subject of the notice, in this case The Walt Disney Company, would then have a window of time to respond to those claims. If the FCC Chair found the response inadequate and wished to continue with the penalty, Disney would then have the opportunity to appeal his finding - first to the full FCC, then to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (who has repeatedly ruled against the current administration), and ultimately to the Supreme Court of The United States.
It is extremely unlikely that either the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court - even the current conservative leaning SCOTUS - would find that a complete revocation of license was merited. License revocation would require proof of ongoing, severe violations of FCC regulations. Not to say that Disney might not be penalized if Kimmel’s actions were found to be in breech of FCC rules. But those penalties almost always result in fines, not the loss of licenses. Since this is the first time the FCC has claimed violations by ABC, and since they have still not issued an NAL - ever or in this case - revocation of Disney’s licenses would all-but certainly be deemed onerous and extreme. Regardless of any differences of opinions on all that, this process would take months, if not a year or more. Meanwhile, ABC would undoubtedly be granted an injunction preventing the revocation, pending the outcome of their appeals.
None of that is “opinion.” These are the facts. Whether you sympathize with Kimmel or Carr is irrelevant. This is how the process works. And as much as this administration continually attempts to circumnavigate the institutional process of governing, even they have been forced to abide by it, during both editions of their rule.
Whether you agree with this president’s assessment of Kimmel, or you believe that Jimmy’s suspension is an act of censorship, this much is absolutely true:
Disney’s decision to take Kimmel’s show off the air was a corporate decision, not a governmental one. Carr did not force anyone to take Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air. He issued a threat. The current president did not sign an executive order removing Live! from TV. He sent a mean tweet.
The choice to suspend Jimmy Kimmel Live! wrests solely on the shoulders of one man, Disney CEO, Bob Iger. Iger made this choice based entirely on his own fear of retribution from Nexstar and the current resident of The White House. He was undoubtedly informed about his options - to fight back or to cave in. He chose to cave.
Even by cancelling Kimmel’s cancellation, Disney continues to make decisions solely focused on their bottom line - with the reversal, it was in response to subscription cancellations. I don’t really understand how Kimmel thinks the Disney C-Suite won’t do this again - the next time Carr rattles his saber at ABC affiliates who have deals they need him to approve.
And through all these actions, Mr. Iger has signed the final death warrant for American Broadcast Television.
