Source: NICHOLAS KAMM / Getty
Former President Barack Obama has been forced again to stop living his best life to comment on the draconian administration for the second time this week after ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show for comments regarding the death of right-wing pundit Charlie Kirk.
Obama took to social media to point out that Republicans who once complained that cancel culture impinged on free speech and the First Amendment have now adopted the same culture they once denounced.
“After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like,” Obama wrote on X.
Politico points out that Obama doesn’t typically comment on news of the day, but as of late, he’s been forced to address the hypocrisy of the right. Obama’s social media post came some days after he denounced the killing of Kirk, while adding that America should be free to criticize the Turning Point USA founder’s views.
Hours after Disney announced Kimmel’s suspension, Obama took to X to post about it.
“This is precisely the kind of government coercion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent — and media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to it,” Obama wrote, linking to a New York Times report that detailed the Washington Post’s firing of Karen Attiah, a columnist who said she was let go for her social media activity following Kirk’s killing.
Kimmel drew the ire of the White House, Monday, after he noted that Kirk’s suspected killer’s political views appeared to align with the MAGA movement.
“Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr threatened consequences if the network failed to take action against the comedian in a Wednesday podcast with conservative commentator Benny Johnson,” Politico reports.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr told Johnson, threatening “additional work for the FCC.”
Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, are calling for the FCC chair’s resignation for his actions that led to Kimmel’s suspension.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Politico that the Trump administration didn’t tread on Kimmel’s right to free speech and that his firing was ultimately the decision of Disney, a private company.
“Low-ratings loser Jimmy Kimmel is free to spew whatever bad jokes he wants, but a private company is under no obligation to provide him a platform to do so,” she said in a statement.
See social media’s response to Obama’s retort below.
