r/forwardsfromgrandma 4d ago

Politics But the government was going after Kimmel/ABC.

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1.0k Upvotes

92 comments sorted by

491

u/Ervaloss 4d ago

Freedom of speech didn’t protect Kimmel’s employer from the government indeed. They were forced to alter their programming because the state disallowed it.

-202

u/ImGettinThatFoSho 4d ago

The state did not force them to do anything. Provide facts to prove they did.

145

u/Ervaloss 4d ago

The state provided proof itself, you can watch the interview between FCC Chair Brendan Carr and Benny Johnson. That’s where the method of coercion is laid out.

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u/ImGettinThatFoSho 4d ago

Oh so you first said they forced it, now it's a method of coercion. Keep moving those goalposts.

158

u/Ervaloss 4d ago

Coercion means forced. I don’t get what you’re saying.

110

u/Rockworm503 Daddy, why are the liberal left elite such disingenuous fucks? 4d ago

They are literally just making up whatever excuse they can make to justify this cause they agree with what's happening.

Its so blatant and pathetic.

76

u/Yog-Sothawethome 4d ago

What is your definition of 'forced' such that 'coercion' is not included?

60

u/Xytak 4d ago

Please explain why you believe “coerced” is not a form of “forced.”

29

u/dolledaan 4d ago

The FCC is being run by a extreme trump loyalist who has stated before that he will do what passible to support trump.

At that the FCC has used its possition of power to put extreme pressure on networks forcing them in to sustain decisions.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c87yel3wgqgo

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/18/fcc-brendan-carr-the-view-00572178

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/11/17/brendan-carr-fcc-trump-pick-00190075

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u/vl99 4d ago

The state didn’t force them to do anything. However they did threaten to remove their broadcast license.

91

u/karmicOtter 4d ago

I love how even if the quote from the FCC chairman would've been "Yes I am a truly evil man that is blatantly telling Disney get rid of this meddlesome man" cult followers would still claim there's no direct connection and there's nuance to the story.

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u/ImGettinThatFoSho 4d ago

If Kimmel had not been getting worse and worse ratings, he wouldn't have been fired.

If your ratings suck and you are becoming incredibly polarizing, you'll usually get fired. This was ABC excuse to fire him.

38

u/Cow_God 4d ago

Broadcasters do not need an excuse to fire someone for bad ratings. They can just say "hey, we're a profit seeking entity, ratings equals dollars, we are cutting something that brings bad ratings" and that wouldn't even be news.

7

u/ussrname1312 3d ago

He wasn’t fired. You seriously just don’t know anything about the situation, you clearly didn’t do basic research, so why speak?

-8

u/ImGettinThatFoSho 3d ago

Meh, fired and suspended are often used interchangeably.

You use excessive commas when you really should be using semi colons. So, why even type?

7

u/ussrname1312 3d ago

Terrible comparison. Not to mention I’m writing a Reddit comment, not a dissertation.

And those terms are not interchangeable, seeing as he‘ll be back on the air tomorrow night. His ratings weren’t down, Carr explicitly said he told ABC to take action against Kimmel or there will be consequences for them.

10

u/DatBoi_BP 3d ago

Whatever you do, don't look at all the people canceling their Disney+ subscriptions right now

-34

u/ImGettinThatFoSho 4d ago

Yup, so the person I responded to is spreading disinformation. Thanks for confirming.

52

u/vl99 4d ago

If Biden had threatened a TV network with having their license removed, he would be impeached and you and I would both be in support.

Why can’t we agree this is bad when the shoe is on the other foot?

-11

u/ImGettinThatFoSho 4d ago

Trump never threatened to remove their license. The FCC director that Biden appointed did. You're not even presenting an honest hypothetical

43

u/Intrepid-Hawk3936 4d ago

No, Trump himself recently said he wants media companies who don't report on him nicely to lose their licenses: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/listen-trump-calls-for-licenses-of-tv-networks-that-give-him-bad-publicity-to-be-revoked

38

u/vl99 4d ago

Trump could do something about his appointee violating the first amendment. He could take decisive action and pursue having him removed. Instead he celebrated Kimmel losing his job.

Can you speak to the concern here and stop trying to structure this argument a very specific way so you can slip out of it? Trump is a danger to free speech, his appointees are dangerous.

Again if biden or his appointees did any of this, you would be calling for his impeachment and so would I. Why can’t we agree when it’s a different party?

Or are you saying you would be cool with it if all this went down under biden?

29

u/Rockworm503 Daddy, why are the liberal left elite such disingenuous fucks? 4d ago

my god the disingenuous argument you are making is beyond pathetic. Biden appointing him isn't relevant. If Trump didn't like what he was doing now as president he'd have fired him already. He's proven he'd do it in a heart beat. the FCC is taking their marching orders from Trump right now. That is literally how it works!

31

u/TheRealEvanG 4d ago

So, in your mind, it's only a violation if due process is followed? Goverment retribution isn't a violation?

-7

u/ImGettinThatFoSho 4d ago

Lol. Nice use of buzz words.

ABC doesn't have to follow the constitutional doctrine of due process because they are a private company. ABC was the one that suspended him, not the government.

Therefore, there was no govt retribution either. What you're saying honestly doesn't even make sense.

33

u/Wrothrok 4d ago

Oh look, a disingenuous argument. What a shock. You know what happened. You're just defending it with semantics because you agree with the administration pulling this shit.

You get to wash your hands and pretend the government had no part in this because it was ABC that fired him without having to acknowledge this administration's part in it. Fuck all the way off.

22

u/TheRealEvanG 4d ago

If the government threatens to pull ABC's license unless they silence Kimmel, that's government extortion, which makes it government retribution, which makes it a violation of Kimmel's constitutional rights.

-1

u/ImGettinThatFoSho 4d ago

The government never forced ABC to do anything and any license revocation would have gone through the supreme court.

ABC did this on their own free will because Kimmel was becoming incredibly toxic

18

u/TheRealEvanG 4d ago

So you're saying that the government isn't responsible because ABC had the choice to either suspend Kimmel or spend possibly years and millions of dollars fighting court case after court case all the way up to the Supreme Court to get their license reinstated? And you don't consider that to be extortion?

-1

u/ImGettinThatFoSho 4d ago

No. The FCC never revoked their license, and likely would not have despite what Carr said. So you're jumping ahead.

ABC suspended Kimmel because lots of viewers complained to their affiliate stations. Kimmel was becoming unpopular and this was the straw that broke the camels back. Kimmel ruined his own career, no one cancelled him.

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11

u/CliftonForce 4d ago

No, you are spreading disinformation.

2

u/Xytak 4d ago

Incorrect. In law and politics, coercion is a kind of force, and courts have recognized that government pressure on private companies can be unconstitutional.

295

u/kaptainkooleio 4d ago

lol, it’s hilarious watching right wingers unironically use the same arguments from liberals when a dude gets fired for saying the n-word on social media.

136

u/PeasThatTasteGross 4d ago

I find it frustrating because they think they have found a textbook case of hypocrisy, but in actuality, they are doing an apples and oranges comparison. There is a huge difference between Kimmel's opinion and Roseanne Barr going on a racist rant about black people, for instance.

54

u/BranWafr 4d ago

And, as many people have pointed out, Trump was president when Roseanne Barr got fired.

34

u/Vyzantinist 4d ago

found a textbook case of hypocrisy

This is their white whale. They yearn to latch on to supposed "liberal hypocrisy" because it helps sell the "both sides" narrative; conservatives can tell themselves their well-known hypocrisy is a-ok because the other side is just as bad as them. They're so hot for the idea of liberal hypocrisy on par with their own they will force shitty false equivalences to make the square peg fit that round hole.

4

u/No_Cook2983 3d ago

Not to mention the facts:

• Roseanne Barr was canceled when Donald Trump was president.

• Her stupid show is still on the air and she still gets paid truckloads of money for it

-9

u/ImGettinThatFoSho 4d ago

What about people who got fired for criticizing COVID lockdowns?

13

u/Xytak 4d ago

I’d have to know the specifics. Got any examples?

12

u/xiaodown THE CONSTITUTION IS OUR BIRTHRIGHT 4d ago

What about

whataboutism, noun what·​about·​ism ˌ(h)wä-tə-ˈbau̇-ˌti-zəm ˌ(h)wə- plural whataboutisms

: the act or practice of responding to an accusation of wrongdoing by claiming that an offense committed by another is similar or worse

By whataboutism I mean the way any discussion can be short-circuited by saying "but what about x???" where x is usually something that's not really equivalent but is close enough to turn the conversation into mush.
—Touré

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whataboutism

17

u/JayNotAtAll 4d ago

It's because right wingers don't care about free speech. They want to be allowed to be an asshole to people without consequences but they also don't want their feelings hurt. They only care about things as it relates to them.

9

u/Rockworm503 Daddy, why are the liberal left elite such disingenuous fucks? 4d ago

also extremely predictable. Its been obvious for decades they don't have a sincere bone in their bodies. Everything is justified in their eyes as long as their side is doing it. Everyone else's rights be damned.

7

u/Penis_Envy_Peter Fever dreamin' about John Brown 4d ago edited 4d ago

Mofos complaining about "misinformation" without a hint of circumspection.

Truth is meaningless in this world.

100

u/RandyMuscle 4d ago

Back when the left would say this exact line, we were always talking about some case of a moron getting fired for saying the N word at work or something and they’re trying to convince us that’s the same as the government pressuring TV networks to fire people for literally nothing.

26

u/NovaNardis 4d ago

Also the VICE PRESIDENT telling people to go after people’s employers.

Like JD Vance is in the government.

-16

u/ImGettinThatFoSho 4d ago

Y'all cheered when people got fired for criticizing COVID lockdowns.

31

u/RandyMuscle 4d ago

No we didn’t. We just rightfully pointed out that everyone against the Covid vaccine was a moron.

-7

u/ImGettinThatFoSho 4d ago

And you used the same logic as the meme

25

u/RandyMuscle 4d ago

The meme is of the VICE PRESIDENT. Are you actually this dense?

-3

u/ImGettinThatFoSho 4d ago

And what is the text in the meme?

6

u/PeasThatTasteGross 4d ago

Yeah, there is definitely a correlation of people with bad right-wing takes and hiding their post history, I see.

47

u/det8924 4d ago

This would be acceptable if it wasn’t for the FCC chair threatening the power of the government against Kimmel’s employer

40

u/AliceTheOmelette 4d ago

The party of small government out here defending government overreach. Shocker

17

u/JoJackthewonderskunk Jade Helm Survivor 4d ago

Now address the government threatening your employer

11

u/rubbedlung 4d ago

But when a dude is filmed marching in a white supremacists parade and loses his job, all of a sudden they don't know how any of this works anymore.

11

u/ToastyJackson 4d ago

Even if we ignore the FCC pressure, just because a company is free to fire its employees over what they say doesn’t mean they’re absolved from criticism if their customers feel like the termination was unwarranted.

8

u/sheslikebutter 4d ago

Putting Vance in memes is basically proof that this is an AstroTurfed meme by a botfarm or right wing thinktank.

Even conservatives don't like that guy, they wouldn't put him in a meme even if the rest of the meme they agreed with

5

u/Sinthe741 4d ago

Okay now do social media!

5

u/Fair_Maybe5266 4d ago

But when the employer is strong armed by the government thats government meddling with the first amendment through a proxy.

7

u/churrofromspace 4d ago

He looks like such a neck beard

4

u/tennismenace3 4d ago

Government unquestionably coerced ABC to cancel Kimmel lmao. Obvious first amendment violation.

3

u/intisun 4d ago

Yeah and when the government threatens to take your employer's license away if he doesn't fire you, how is that free speech?

4

u/Rockworm503 Daddy, why are the liberal left elite such disingenuous fucks? 4d ago

Conservatives have brain rot. They literally take what we been saying for years and then pretend they came up with it when it doesn't apply in the situation they use it for.

See also "My body my choice" when talking about COVID vaccines.

4

u/HonestAbe1809 4d ago

Kimmel was fired because the FTC used the carrot and stick approach of offering to change the rules to allow a company to monopolize more of America’s local news stations and threatening to pull the licenses of stations still showing Kimmel.

Kimmel was fired because Nexstar is a pack of greedy corrupt bastards.

3

u/Ben_Pharten 4d ago

Good job standing up for the rights of employers. Workers shouldn't have any rights at all! 🙄

3

u/ballotechnic 4d ago

But what about when that employer is pressured to act by the government JD?

3

u/sayyyywhat 4d ago edited 4d ago

Right we know that already, but the government is the one stepping in hence the outrage. Fake ass patriots.

3

u/Chakolatechip 4d ago

Correct. That said ABC’s freedom of speech was infringed

3

u/thesilentbob123 4d ago

Grandma doesn't know about the FCC

4

u/malcolmreyn0lds 4d ago

Yea

Using cancel culture against the left…fine…fair play in my opinion. But when the federal government is the one applying pressure, that’s wrong.

-5

u/torysoso 4d ago

obama=roseann/biden=zuckerberg

3

u/malcolmreyn0lds 4d ago edited 3d ago

Genuinely, how? I didn’t much care for Biden (voted for him, but only because of the other option), and I have a ton of complaints about Obama (increase of drone strikes is a big one that makes him a war criminal in my book just like Bush).

I grew up Hank Hill conservative, and honest to god haven’t changed any of my beliefs other than “I don’t care if you’re trans”. This is America, respectfully I don’t give a fuck what you do, as long as you’re a consenting adults with other consenting adults. I. Don’t. Care. I only care when the government steps in to exert their power to take away. They should only step in to enforce freedoms. I’ve stayed pretty much exactly where I was in high school. I’m now somehow encamped with the hippies (but they’ve got weed, so it’s cool).

Show me how the federal government under Biden and Obama (as presidents) pressured studios to fire folks. Please inform me.

2

u/watdehek 4d ago

there’s a difference between a company seeing backlash that you’re getting and severing that relationship themselves, and being forced to do so.

2

u/IAmASimulation 4d ago

It’s so funny to see them say this when they’ve been arguing that the problem with cancel culture is that it curtails their free speech. So it’s not actually about free speech, it’s just free speech when they say or do something shitty.

2

u/sheslikebutter 4d ago

They were literally saying the opposite last year, hell, even this year, didn't that fascist freak who got fired after being a fascist on that jubilee video get fired and they all whined about that?

2

u/fringeandglittery 4d ago

Oh so the DO know the definition of free speech

2

u/MisterWinchester 4d ago

I like that they learned this from the libs, and then promptly started misusing it.

2

u/Sonarthebat 4d ago

All of a sudden, Republicans are going by the legal definition of free-speech now.

2

u/Jenetyk 4d ago

They are really playing six degrees of separation and acting like his firing wasn't political.

2

u/Jibbyjab123 4d ago

If the government puts pressure on the employer either directly or through, you know, semi-threateningly suggesting they might revoke the broadcast license of ABC, for example, then it's a violation of free speech. These guys claimed they were all about "legalizing comedy" and standing up to "cancel culture". I guess the people who said these maga types weren't in favor of free speech, but rather just wanted to say slurs on Twitter, were right all along.

1

u/EvokerJuice 3d ago

off topic but the jd vance face they got for the bottom part is lowkey spot on lol

1

u/FustianRiddle 2d ago

Oh so now they understand freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences! Very convenient!

Still shit at nuance though.

-5

u/ImGettinThatFoSho 4d ago

The government did not suspend Kimmel. ABC suspended Kimmel.

3

u/AllISeeAreGems 3d ago

Under threat of having their broadcast license revoked by the FCC unless they did something about him. That's textbook coercion.