What if in 1968, in the wake of the assassination of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Johnny Carson had gone on television and decided to drum up a few laughs in his opening monologue by talking about how one of King’s own supporters gunned him down. And then how President Lyndon Johnson didn’t care that much about the loss of his friend. And how maybe we need to keep up the pressure on Conservatives who think free speech includes engaging those who disagree with them in civil dialogue.
Do you think NBC, the home of The Tonight Show, would have had the attitude, “Eh, let Johnny talk. Free speech, ya know?” Do you think his audience of roughly twelve million nightly would have said, “Hmm, interesting. I wonder what Johnny’s gonna say tomorrow night…”
When the Founders established the Free Speech clause in our Constitution, it was also understood in context of the words of John Adams:
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Consider: We police our own speech. For instance, it would be immoral to urge others on to violence.
St. Paul puts it this way:
“I have the right to do anything,” you say — but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything” — but I will not be mastered by anything. (1 Corinthians 6:12)
When Family Miss the Obvious
Sadly, I was included on an email from a dear relative who chided anyone as being a coward who did not protest Jimmy Kimmel’s firing due to the First Amendment. My relative felt very strongly about this; in his own words, if you didn’t loudly defend Kimmel, you needed to “grow a pair.”
My wife and I had just finished watching the entire eight-hour-plus beautiful, uplifting, and spirit-filled memorial service for Charlie Kirk and, before I went to sleep, I thought I would clear out my email inbox for the day. Unfortunately, I opened the email from my relative (thinking it was just the usual newsy missive) and read his thoughts.
He had written his opinions before the service, so I am not sure if he would have sent the same message; he made it clear that what happened to Charlie was certainly serious and evil.
No Buts About It
My relative used words I had heard before from those who want to virtue signal that doing bad things is not acceptable, a variation of this:
“Yes, it was wrong what happened to Charlie Kirk, terrible! But…”
If you hear someone on the Left — or even someone who considers themselves a rational, reasonable person “in the middle” who likes to play the Both-Sides-Are-Wrong card — you need to push back. Comparing the temporary suspension of a mediocre, inconsequential talent like Kimmel to the assassination of a beautiful, influential man like Kirk, well, they are not in the same league or arena.
Since I was the only one on the email thread who knew Charlie personally (we were colleagues at Salem Radio), I felt my comments would have more weight.
I highlighted the MLK/Carson comparison and then focused on the “free speech” aspect from a purely business standpoint.
Jimmy lost tens of millions of dollars for the network annually. It’s been said that his viewership was so low that if you posted a video on X of your cat playing the piano you could have gotten more viewers than Kimmel. Let’s face it, for Jimmy’s show, the bloom had popped off the rose a long time ago.
And to the issue of Kimmel losing his First Amendment right? Kimmel was and still is free to say whatever he wants anywhere else. For example, when Tucker (who had the hottest show on Fox, making millions for the network) was cancelled for speaking the truth politically, he launched his own “channel.”
The funny thing is (no, not jokes from Kimmel’s opening monologues) that unsuccessful shows with varying degrees of talent get cancelled all the time in the world of television. If that were not so we would all be subjected to the 59th season of My Mother the Car starring Jerry van Dyke.
No, lackluster shows are replaced by something for which the viewing public actually cares to tune in.
What Jimmy Kimmel needs to do is “grow a pair,” take his lumps, and find another venue. That being said, however, Kimmel has (viola!) returned after all because I suppose the network figures it still hasn’t lost enough money — or influence.
Prove Him Wrong
Jesus was “the Word made Flesh” and that Word came to life and spoke to thousands during a short lifetime. Free speech was made an eternal right — and the powers that be of Jesus’ day had to silence it.
Young Charlie Kirk paid the ultimate price for standing against the obvious evil he saw in plain sight. And in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead there, unfortunately, may be many more who will join him.
My relative closed out his email challenging those of us who didn’t agree with him to respond a la Charlie:
“Prove Me Wrong,” he wrote.
I closed my email response to him in a way I think the humble Charlie Kirk might have done:
“Jesus said, ‘I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’
“Prove Him Wrong.”
A version of this article appeared originally at The Blaze.
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Albin Sadar is author of Obvious: Seeing the Evil That’s in Plain Sight and Doing Something About It, as well as the children’s book collection, Hamster Holmes: Box of Mysteries. Albin was formerly the producer of “The Eric Metaxas Show.”
