Farewell, Jimmy Kimmel
Contrary to what a lot of clickbait claims, Jimmy Kimmel being pulled off the air has nothing to do with free speech. I'll explain in greater detail in a moment. The short answer to all of this is that Kimmel's potential firing falls in the same category as Don Lemon being axed by CNN or Tucker Carlson from Fox.
While I've yet to track down the language for Kimmel's employment contract with ABC, there was almost certainly a morality clause. It's also worth noting that his contract was set to expire in 2026 which has caused speculation that his inflammatory opening was to intentionally terminate it early.
Let's look at the language of the First Amendment again.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Some questions to ask yourself when people start hurling the language of "free speech" —
Was Congress involved?
For that matter, was there any government involvement?
Were any laws ratified?
Was the action taken by the government or a private employer?
This gets a little blurry with the repeated weaponization of the FBI and DOJ under Obama and Biden. Regardless, these questions are a great place to start.
Jimmy Kimmel is free to say incredibly distasteful things. That does not guarantee impunity. In this case, he saw swift consequences to his words and actions.
