Celebrities cry about Jimmy Kimmel but have no tears to shed for free speech giant Charlie Kirk
The hypocrisy of celebrities crying about ‘free speech’ cancellation in the wake of Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension from ABC highlights Hollywood’s innermost rot
Opinion-editorial by Summer Lane | September 19, 2025
This week, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was suspended after its host, Jimmy Kimmel, made comments about the assassination of Charlie Kirk – comments that were ill-received by his audience and deemed “inappropriate and deeply insensitive” by ABC’s largest affiliate group, Sinclair.
Kimmel insinuated in his comments that the alleged killer of Charlie Kirk was a member of the “MAGA” community. These claims are unproven, and court documents presented last week by prosecutors seem to suggest just the opposite.
Since Kimmel’s suspension, Hollywood celebrities have cried crocodile tears about the supposed injustice of it all, calling it a “free speech” issue.
It is cruelly ironic that the assassination of Charlie Kirk – a man who represented the very essence of peaceful civic discourse and free speech values – cannot elicit a tear from these celebrities, and yet, they find the energy to wail and moan over a late-night host whose show has been losing viewers for quite some time.
Celebrities are crying about free speech – something they don’t value
“We saw Jimmy Kimmel’s show was cancelled,” said far-left actor Mark Ruffalo this week.
He added, “We don’t know what the reasons are, really, it’s very cloudy and murky. I don’t know what’s happening right now. My industry doesn’t understand what’s happening right now. But what [I] do understand is our freedom of speech is being attacked.”
There are two possible takeaways from Ruffalo’s comments. One, he’s truly ignorant of why Kimmel was suspended (making totally unproven claims about Charlie Kirk’s killer), or two, Ruffalo is desperate to misrepresent what happened to Kimmel, so that he and other far-left celebrities can continue to use dangerous rhetoric to describe people like Charlie Kirk.
Hollywood actor Jason Bateman on Friday echoed the same sentiment espoused by Ruffalo, while interviewing on a segment for the “Today Show” on NBC.
“It’s troubling to say the least…we all have to really take a moment and figure out how we feel about this type of thing…you just can’t stand by and let stuff like that go on,” he said.
“Stuff like…?” asked the host.
“Well, stuff like Jimmy getting his show pulled for freedom of speech,” Bateman replied.
Again, the narrative of Kimmel getting his show pulled for exercising his “free speech” rights is absurd.
Charlie Kirk was assassinated for exercising his free speech rights at Utah Valley University.
Jimmy Kimmel’s show was suspended by Sinclair after he made untrue and appalling statements about the killing of Charlie Kirk.
Jimmy Kimmel can still exercise his right to free speech. Charlie Kirk cannot.
Free speech does not free you from logical consequences
Free speech is an incredible right in this country – but having the right to exercise that speech does not always equal protection from the consequences of words.
Charlie Kirk used his voice to stimulate peaceful civic discourse and open debate. He was targeted for that. He was killed by someone who, it appears, had serious political differences with Kirk. That is the risk everyone takes when they speak out about difficult topics – there is always the chance of a consequence.
For Kirk, his free speech was rooted in thought, well-researched argumentation, and logic.
For Jimmy Kimmel, his so-called “free speech” moment this week was rooted in blatant untruth. This does not absolve him of the consequences of making a false claim – not at all.
Untrue speech, hateful rhetoric, and violent language – which is most often seen among the radical far left – can have very real consequences that hurt very real people. Lies sow seeds of hate, and hate often turns to violence.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the assassination of Kirk himself, who was willing to debate anyone, anytime, anyplace.
On the opposite end of the spectrum of free speech is silence and paralyzing singularity.
“When people stop talking, that’s when you get violence,” Kirk said on campus once. “That’s when civil war happens. Because you start to think the other side is so evil and they lose their humanity.”
Kirk’s alleged killer was a product of such thinking – to kill someone for their beliefs and their words is the ultimate form of dehumanization.
It demonstrates, clearly, the need for two things: free and protected speech, balanced by a societal standard that demands objective truth.
Jimmy Kimmel had the right to say what he did about Kirk’s killer, but he didn’t have the right to dodge consequences from the private entity that employs him.
Plus, Kimmel’s show has been failing for a long time – his ratings have plummeted by 72 percent in the most key demographic (25-54-year-olds), as reported by LindellTV.
His cancellation is a combination of tone-deaf commentary and a decade-long slide of plummeting viewership.
“Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else, and he said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk,” President Trump explained on Thursday during a press conference in the United Kingdom.
He added, “And Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person, he had very bad ratings and they should have fired him a long time ago.”
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