A group of politicians and Hollywood Guild leaders will return to the airline on Tuesday just an hour before ABC announced “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, holding a press conference and rallying in front of the show’s Hollywood studios to urge Disney to reclaim the show.
“Trump’s allies believe the First Amendment has an asterisk,” said Rep. Laura Friedman (D-Calif. 30). “They think that means getting free speech as long as they like Donald Trump. But he can’t silence the objections. He can’t tell the American people what to say, what they can hear, what they can’t hear… This is about a late night show. It’s about work, and it’s about our rights as Americans. You can tell them what to say.”
Friedman pulled out a massive copy of the first amendment, adding, “You cannot cancel the US Constitution today, not tomorrow, not the clock, not today.”
The press conference would not leave if they had stumbled. Trump supporters with My Cloud speakers tried to get the event to own. That’s when attendees cried out “Free speech!” and then the low-flying Fox 11/KTTV helicopter who had obtained the video of the event also killed some of the speakers.
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif. 32) tried to point out that far-right Charlie Kirk is now praised as a free speech absolutist.
“This mafia administration is so bold that it puts the mafia language right in front of you,” he said. “What this administration is doing, Brendan Kerr weakens Charlie Kirk’s words. Charlie Kirk said you should be allowed to say outrageous things. There are illicit speeches, there are evil speeches, it’s all evil speeches, and Jimmy Kimmel did not contradict Charlie Kirk’s words.”
Rather than personally saying that, as a citizen, she had planned a boycott and business that she promoted on ABC at 11:35pm if Kimmel was not brought back. He also said that if Kimmel returns, he will support those advertisers – that’s probably what he does now.
“The First Amendment deals with what we do as a government, and while the government should be concerned, we are also private citizens,” he said. “And I see who is advertising on ABC from 11:30pm to 12:30pm and talking just for my family. If I were to see Jimmy Kimmel, I would look at those advertisers.
Rep. Judy Chew (D-Calif. 32), co-chair of Congress’ Creative Rights Caucus, warned that President Trump has been demanding Kimmel’s scalp for a while. “First, Trump wrote that he should cancel Jimmy Kimmel’s show more than two months ago. Then last week, Trump’s FCC chairman said that businesses should take action with Kimmel, and the companies received the message.”
She then criticized Nexstar. “ABC’s biggest distributor required FCC approval for the $6.2 billion merger, quickly followed the order and pre-empted the show. ABC removed it indefinitely. FC must cancel the broadcast license for the network that criticizes him.
Rep. Ted Lieu added that this isn’t Kimmel alone. “Last year, the Supreme Court ruled a unanimous decision that government officials cannot force government officials to punish or restrain the view that government officials are fake. My message to the ABC is very simple. You won’t kneel,” he said. “What happens when you kneel? When the bully comes after you again, FCC Chairman Brendan Kerr is threatening the ABC because he doesn’t like the statements made by the ‘view’. When will this stop?
And to prove his point, Lieu said:
Other speakers at the event included representatives of the AFM, IATSE and SAG-AFTRA, as well as President Todd Holland, the First Vice President of the DGA, President of the Writers Guild of America West Meredith Steam.
