Jimmy Kimmel’s imminent return from suspension immediately lowers the quality of late-night television. Kimmel’s humiliating removal came because of his choosing rants over rim shots.
Kimmel’s troubles have been described by the Left as being rooted in free speech, when in fact the suspension was a reminder to Kimmel that while he is free to speak, that freedom is a privilege extended at the discretion of his employer.
That his employer decided this is bad for business is a victory for everyone, even if they are letting him back on the air.
Kimmel’s suspension is consequential because it augers a sea-shift in the idea of what is, and what is not, entertainment. This means consequences for bad behavior have returned, even in Hollywood.
Kimmel’s relentless choice of politics over performance earned his punishment. He was not “cancelled”. He’s been suspended for poor performance and violating standards of conduct that are injurious to his employer.
In the hopefully now dead “woke” world, the speech and thought oligarchs set an arbitrary standard of acceptable ideas conveniently centered around their beliefs. The Left enforced their standards by stifling their opponents. They silenced anyone who dared to disagree by canceling their opportunities.
Roseanne Barr makes a joke about Donna Brazil, even if it was in bad taste, and ABC at the behest of the Progressive star chamber doesn’t cancel her eponymously named show but instead cancels her. They removed her from a show bearing her name because she dared to think and act differently than celebrities are allowed. Canceling her meant depriving her of opportunity.
During the COVID era, cancellation meant intelligent statements about the origin of the virus and the safety of the vaccine were suppressed. The opinions of ordinary Americans were removed, and their authors barred from social media sites. This suppression wasn’t due to the statements being demonstrably untrue, but because of their opposition to liberal groupthink.
The Chinese virus emboldened the Left to entrench themselves as thought and speech overlords. Their efforts weren’t to protect anyone, but rather to eradicate disagreement thus converting the marketplace of ideas into a leftist echo chamber.
A pandemic became an excuse to persecute people whose viewpoints differed.
Jimmy Kimmel’s political tirades are a product of the bubble created by the liberal hive. Insulated in a carefully and artificially created environment, he is surrounded by people who think just as he does. A place where no room is available for people who differ in opinion or viewpoint.
A place where in response to Charlie Kirk’s murder he thought it funny to say, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang 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’s bubble is a dystopian setting where words and actions have no consequences. A place where tolerance and compassion provide no comfort. Hollow words issued by equally hollow heads.
Kimmel’s suspension and the end of Stephen Colbert’s show suggest that vapid irresponsibility is being replaced by authentic accountability.
Colbert’s show loses $50 million a year, and the network decides it can’t afford to subsidize his politics. This is not woke cancellation, it’s called business. Colbert is supposed to be an entertainer not the recipient of some form of glitzy entitlement.
So too, with Kimmel. ABC affiliates decided to preempt Kimmel’s program because his tirades don’t reflect the needs, sensibilities, or standards of their viewers. He doesn’t get to bloviate at the expense of the people that foot the bill. His position is one of performance not performative subsidy.
Free speech is not infringed when it violates an employer’s policies and standards of conduct resulting in suspension or termination. Only liberals believe their opinions are immune from examination and consequence.
For those of us who live in the real world, what you say and how you behave have repercussions.
Kimmel is free to speak in whatever vulgar and hateful way he wishes, but not without risk. His job is a privilege extended by an employer who may revoke it if his conduct or words fail to meet corporate muster.
Ironically, ABC, who is owned by Disney, is the very same conglomerate that cancelled Roseanne Barr years ago.
Something has changed when even they can no longer tolerate the boorish blathering of Kimmel. Disney, it appears, has had enough of loud and foul-mouthed celebrities whose views victimize profits. Rachel Zeigler’s mouth turned a live-action Snow White into dead on arrival at the box office.
No employer can have employees believe their employment comes without principles of conduct that constrain ugly and unprofessional conduct or words. As a result, the cashier doesn’t get to call you a “moron” for wearing your Trump 2024 shirt or an “idiot” for sporting a cross on your lapel, without the risk of losing her job.
Kimmel hasn’t been cancelled; he’s finally being forced to live with the consequences of his choices.
Stephen Piccirillo © 2025
