Censorship & A Free Speech Victory

Jimmy Kimmel's return is an example of coordinated resistance

Steamboat Willie cancels his Disney+ subscription

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Please continue to share this publication with your family, friends and neighbors so we can build our numbers in anticipation of the next No Kings Day on October 18.

The Mouse Backs Down

We have an example this week of how collective action can bring about change.

Disney reversed course after facing a massive backlash over its decision to take Jimmy Kimmel off the air. If you’re not up-to-speed, Collider summarized the controversy succinctly:

Kimmel was suspended following his comments on the death of Kirk, who was killed following a gunshot wound at the Utah Valley University campus on September 10. His death drew worldwide attention and sparked widespread condemnation of political violence from leaders at home and abroad. In the aftermath, Trump announced that Kirk would be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously.

In his monologue the following Monday, September 15, Kimmel claimed the far-right movement was taking advantage of Kirk’s assassination for their own political gain. “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.”

Disney was pressured by FCC chair Brendan Carr to dump Kimmel, which is the very definition of government censorship. Watch this Vergecast podcast episode for details. Dangerous stuff. It inspired me to create this protest song.

I saw a deluge of social media posts from people announcing their cancellations of Disney+ and Hulu and ESPN. This was cheered on and led by the very celebrities ABC and Disney rely upon for their revenue.

It is, however, a partial victory.

While Kimmel returns to his show, Sinclair and Nexstar, two companies that control many local TV news stations, have refused to air Kimmel’s show on their local ABC affiliates.

You may remember seven years ago when Sinclair required their affiliate news crews to recite a corporate-written script pushing Trump talking points and “the troubling trend of irresponsible, one sided news stories plaguing our country.”

Sinclair owns one station in Minnesota, The CW (WUCW).

Nexstar does not own any stations in Minnesota…yet. The company is trying to acquire Tegna, which owns KARE 11.

WCCO TV is owned by CBS, which, as we have already seen, has caved to trump administration pressure. KMSP 9 and WFTC 29 are owned by Fox. And KSTP TV and KSTC TV are owned by conservative Hubbard Broadcasting.

We need to be crystal clear about the media we consume and develop highly-attuned media literacy. And I haven’t even mentioned social media yet.

There is a reason independent media is exploding here on Substack and elsewhere. I plan to creating a new page here to list independent media here in Minnesota and independent pro-democracy media elsewhere.