I’ve known Jimmy Kimmel since 1999, when I was offered a writing job on The Man Show, which he co-created. I turned the gig down because my not-yet-wife Cassandra was worried we wouldn’t survive a long-distance relationship, which I’m pretty sure meant she was going to sleep around as soon as I got on the plane.
But I was stuck in L.A. for a week waiting for Craig Kilborn1 to let me interview him2, so I used that plus a vacation week to moonlight at The Man Show.
What I learned then, and in every other interaction with Kimmel (including when he blurbed my last book3), is that he has an enormous amount of integrity mixed with bravery. Which is a weird thing to get from someone whose answer to my question, “What statement are we trying to make with girls on trampolines?” was “Girls on trampolines!” But he has a backbone I’ve rarely seen in Hollywood.
I’ve been told that Kimmel’s life has not been easy the last nine years. He is confronted constantly by Trump supporters who hate him. He gets threats. He is not safe. And not only from Matt Damon. Kimmel feels obligated to keep up his resistance, but is not enjoying it in the least.
I don’t expect Kimmel to apologize for talking about MAGA’s reaction to Charlie Kirk’s assassination in his monologue. Besides, I don’t expect Disney would have his show back on. His contract expires in May, and network talk shows died as a business a while ago. The last talk show on the air will be Bill Maher.
Unlike some people’s offensive comments, Kimmel’s monologue wasn’t callous about Kirk’s awful death. And it’s not the first time big media shut down leftists. The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour got canceled because of Tom Smothers’ anti-Vietnam War bits. An entire swath of lefty Hollywood was blacklisted during McCarthyism. Right before it went to the printer, Time magazine once pulled a Q&A I did with Buddy Hackett because Hackett didn’t like my questions.
There exist people who are not only smarter than I am, but also know a lot more. They’re in contact with far more people at various nodes of power.4 Disney CEO Bob Iger is one of those people.
As universities, law firms, political bodies, and businesses capitulate to Trump, it looks like cowardice or self-interest.
But I don’t think that’s it. I think they know something that we don’t.
I believe they know that democracy as we know it is already over. The Democrats are a shadow national party, allotted only local power. If we want a decent life in this country, we have to accept this and try to have whatever nice things we can. Those things don’t include Jimmy Kimmel.
They might include Pixar movies and theme park rides, but not large news outlets. The networks and cable stations have a residual responsibility to air news. But they’re dying. Meanwhile, why would Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Apple start a news division? It’s like asking your enormous company to be either punished by the President, kicked out of China, or boycotted by the liberal elite. Apple starting a news division makes as much sense as JPMorgan Chase starting a new Christian denomination.
I’d be surprised if Disney lets Dana Walden, who is friends with Kamala Harris, become the next CEO now.
This isn’t just Iger’s decision. Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr went on a podcast and threatened any company involved in airing Kimmel’s show. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the F.C.C. ahead.” Although it’s hard to hear it on the podcast, I’m pretty sure Carr then yelled, “Gabagool!”
Right after that podcast, Sinclair and Nexstar – the two largest companies that own local ABC affiliates that control what to air in all non-prime-time slots – announced they were yanking Kimmel indefinitely. Nexstar is seeking FCC approval on a $6.2 billion acquisition deal. Sinclair has been consistently conservative.
After they caved, Carr went on Fox News to gloat. “I’m very glad to see that America’s broadcasters are standing up to serve the interests of their community,” he said. “We don’t just have this progressive foie gras coming out from New York and Hollywood.”
He doesn’t even have the courtesy to learn how we feel about the cruelty of foie gras.
I saw The Who at the Hollywood Bowl last night. It was like the funeral Tom Sawyer threw for himself, only Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey were both eulogized and eulogizers.
They seemed wise, like people who had seen a lot of change and didn’t expect their work would last beyond their lifetimes. Or care much if it did. Their attitude seemed to be that they represented a certain segment of a certain generation, and it was a miracle that those fans were still able to walk up the stairs of the Hollywood Bowl.
Toward the end, they sang their anti-protest anthem, Won’t Get Fooled Again. It could have been written by Bob Iger:
I'll tip my hat to the new Constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
I'll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half-alive
I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
Sure, we celebrate those who stood up to authoritarianism, but only if they won. The losers? We either forget them or ask why they didn’t flee while they could.
Maybe it’s an excuse. But it might be wisdom.
Kilborn was… eh, don’t worry about it.
He never did, despite constant meeting plans.
"I can think of no one more suited to defend elitism than Stein, a funny man with hands as delicate as a baby full of soft-boiled eggs." —Jimmy Kimmel, host of ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Business, politics, law, military, academia, science, diplomacy… why do I feel the need to explain this?
Thanks, you summed up how I've been feeling the last day or so. We are far past the point of fighting back. The billionaire oligarchs have already won. Maybe I'll feel different tomorrow. Maybe not.
We'll feel like giving up every day. Just remember that the current regime thinks dissenting voices are a threat for a reason. If/when we make it out the other side and clean up the messes we've made, itll be because of those who kept trying, who made it a visible fight, never those who gave up.