“When you create a culture where someone can be fired when they say something that is considered offensive, you have created the standards by which your own stars can also be fired,” Mr. Travis said. “And, to me, if you didn’t say a word about Roseanne, and you didn’t say a word about Gina Carano, I don’t understand how you think you have the moral high horse or legitimacy to suddenly ride in and say, ‘Oh my goodness, look at what they’re doing to Jimmy Kimmel.’”
In the second hour of Mr. Travis’s show, Eric Trump called in with the suggestion that ABC’s suspension of Mr. Kimmel was unrelated to any governmental interference. “Listen, the guy has been a jerk,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Kimmel. “He hasn’t been funny. But, honestly, I think the network used this as a way to get him out based on, you know, bad ratings.”
“Louder With Crowder”: Steven Crowder emphasized that Mr. Kimmel was being “voluntarily suspended by a private company” and said he did not feel bad about that.
“The Michael Knowles Show”: Mr. Knowles called ABC’s decision to pull “Jimmy Kimmel Live” a “great move.” He pushed for further intervention by the F.C.C., acknowledging that his stance would cause him trouble with libertarians and “squishy types.”
“The joke in poor taste is a little bit of a red herring” he said. “It’s the lies that we’re talking about here, because these news networks are not merely private corporations. These news networks are licensed broadcasters. They require licenses from the government. They have a purpose, which is, in the case of news, to tell the truth, to inform the public.”
Critical of the Suspension
“Flagrant,” hosted by Andrew Schulz and Akaash Singh: Mr. Singh expressed reservations about the suspension. Speaking with a pair of regulars on the show, Alexx Media and Mark Gagnon, for a 15-minute segment added to the main episode, he described ABC’s move as “a big attack on free speech.”
