A local advocacy group will protest outside Columbus’ ABC affiliate news station following the company’s indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show.
Indivisible Central Ohio — an organization that identifies itself as dedicated to defending human rights and democracy — will host a free speech rally from 2:30-3:30 p.m. Sept. 23 outside WSYX ABC6, located at 1261 Dublin Road. According to its event webpage, the group asks that attendees bring written statements reflecting why they think Kimmel’s suspension is problematic to give to the station, as well as signs about the importance of free speech.
“Maybe a gagged Mickey Mouse or two since Disney is involved in this atrocity,” the event description reads.
What happened to Jimmy Kimmel? Are there First Amendment issues?
Walt Disney-owned ABC announced Sept. 17 that it would stop airing “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” until further notice, a couple days after Kimmel made comments about the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“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,” Kimmel said during his Sept. 15 episode.
Since ABC is a privately-owned company, its suspension of Kimmel isn’t a First Amendment violation at face value, law experts say. The free speech issue arises if the Federal Communications Commission pressured ABC to fire Kimmel because of his comments.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr seemed to threaten ABC over Kimmel’s Kirk-related remarks in a Sept. 17 podcast episode, saying Disney can “do this the easy way or the hard way” and that there were calls for Kimmel to be fired.
To Indivisible event organizer Ann Isaacs, it’s clear that Kimmel was “silenced on very flimsy grounds.”
“The president doesn’t like Kimmel and has been calling for his firing and that of other late-night hosts for some time,” Isaacs said in an email. “Because owners of ABC affiliates need FCC approval over an acquisition they would like to make, it seems ABC was willing to sacrifice Kimmel to grease the wheels.”
Nexstar Media, owner of NBC 4 in Columbus, has agreed to buy smaller rival Tegna, owner of CBS affiliate 10TV, for $3.54 billion in a merger that must be approved by the FCC. Central Ohio’s ABC affiliate WSYX and Fox affiliate WTTE, are owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group.
ABC 6 did not immediately respond to The Dispatch’s request for comment.
Free speech rally, protest outside ABC 6 station
According to Indivisible’s event description, attendees will stand in front of the ABC 6 building with signs for an hour. Isaacs said roughly 50 people have signed up to attend as of the morning of Sept. 22.
The goal of the rally is expressing to ABC and others that “bowing to pressure from the Trump administration to silence critical voices is unpopular and dangerous,” Isaacs said.
“Allowing this to happen without pushback, makes it easier to silence the next comedian, the next news host, the next journalist,” Isaacs said. “We don’t want to live in a country where only pro government viewpoints can air and where people have to think twice before expressing their opinions openly.”
The news of Kimmel’s suspension comes a couple months after CBS discontinued Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show.” A USA Today report found that while Colbert’s show claimed the largest number of viewers among late-night TV, his ratings have dropped steadily and lost a reported $40 million a year.
Still, Isaacs said it’s important to show companies like ABC that “caving to government pressure is bad for business and is bad for our country.”
“Collectively, we have power,” Isaacs said. “We have options for entertainment and travel. We can choose to direct our eyes and our money to places that support our values. There are many channels to watch and many places to travel besides Orlando.”
Reporter Emma Wozniak can be reached at ewozniak@dispatch.com or @emma_wozniak_ on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Jimmy Kimmel suspension prompts protest at Columbus ABC station
Reporting by Emma Wozniak, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
