Gov. Josh Shapiro said the government’s actions that preceded late-night host Jimmy Kimmel being temporarily pulled from the airwaves were “extremely dangerous” to free speech.
Speaking Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Shapiro said the principle of free expression is a foundational one in the country.
“Our foundational principle in this country, which has roots in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania — William Penn settled here in the 1680s — is about freedom of expression, freedom of speech,” Shapiro said. “And to see that being undermined by the long arm of the federal government is extremely dangerous.”
Kimmel, who has long poked fun at President Donald Trump, was suspended by ABC after what amounted to threats by Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, a Republican.
Disney, which owns ABC, announced Monday that “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” would return to the air Tuesday night.
In a statement, the company said it had suspended the show “to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country.”
Before ABC announced the suspension last week, Sinclair and Nexstar Media Group, two of ABC’s largest affiliate owners, said they would stop airing the show. Sinclair and Nexstar are in the process of a merger that requires approval from the Trump administration.
Shapiro said the selective firing of people for their viewpoints is dangerous.
“Again, whether you agree with Jimmy Kimmel or not, whether you found him funny or not, to fire someone because he told a joke about the president repeatedly and the president didn’t like it, to fire him because he was inartful in his words in the wake of the killing of Charlie Kirk, when you have others in the media … who are inartful every day,” Shapiro said. “That is dangerous, when we are selectively firing people because of their viewpoints.”
The Democratic governor said the government appeared to be “trying to stifle dissent.”
“I think we’re at a really dangerous moment here, and censorship, and what we’re seeing from the federal government only serves to further divide us and make us less safe and erode our fundamental freedoms here in this country, and for a Republican Party led by Donald Trump — who loved for decades to cloak themselves in this blanket of patriotism and freedom. Heck, Donald Trump was talking about free speech in his inaugural address. What was that? Seven or eight months ago. And now, to see how quickly they are eroding on the foundational guideposts of our nation? Should scare everyone — whether you agree with the president or not, whether you voted for him or not,” Shapiro said in the interview.
Carr had attempted to link his comments to remarks by Kimmel on the assassination defendant of Kirk, a conservative activist and podcaster.
According to investigators, the defendant’s mother said her son had become “more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented” in the year leading up to the killing. The defendant wrote to his partner and roommate that he had “enough of his hatred,” referring to Kirk.
The suspension of Kimmel following the threat of regulatory action has raised concerns that the Trump administration was attempting to curtail the free speech of its critics.
The president suggested after Kimmel’s suspension that TV stations with negative coverage of him “maybe” should have their broadcast licenses “taken away.”
Kimmel’s colleagues in late-night have defended the comedian over the past week.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, said Carr’s threat to take action against ABC sounded like something “right out of ‘Goodfellas,’” the 1990 Martin Scorsese film about mobsters.
“Jimmy Kimmel has mocked me so many times I cannot count. The corporate media, they’re dishonest, they are liars. I hate what Jimmy Kimmel said. I am thrilled that he was fired,” Cruz said on his podcast.
U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, a Pennsylvania Republican, called Kimmel’s comments “disgusting rhetoric” but said Cruz raised “important concerns” about Carr’s threats.
Other conservative politicians and commentators framed the suspension as a private business decision not related to the comments by the top broadcast regulator.
“Disney and ABC caving and allowing Kimmel back on the air is not surprising, but it’s their mistake to make,” Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for Kirk’s Turning Point USA conservative organization, said Monday.
During the interview, Shapiro also spoke of condemning political violence “no matter where it is — whether it’s against Charlie Kirk or someone else — it is not okay, and we all have to work together to condemn it. We got to find our better angels, the way we did here in Pennsylvania.” He also said social media is enflaming divisions in the country.
“We have too many people now who can too easily find very dark corners of the Internet, where you have people there who are preying on their frustration — by the way, oftentimes very real frustration — and taking advantage of them and using their frustration, their worry, their angst to promote violence against others and to promote things that are going to create dangers in our communities,” he said.
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