To Please MAGA, The Media is Entering Baghdad Bob Territory
Delray Beach, FL — Truth Wins Out (TWO), a nonprofit dedicated to exposing extremism, strongly condemns ABC’s cowardly decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel Live! following the host’s commentary about the assassination of far‑right influencer Charlie Kirk. TWO’s Executive Director Wayne Besen said the move is part of a dangerous right‑wing “Cancel Crusade” that has weaponized outrage to silence dissent and intimidate media outlets.
“ABC’s capitulation to political pressure shows that the right has adopted the very cancel‑culture tactics it once decried,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “If this dire situation continues, the only people left on the air will be Baghdad Bob and that anchorwoman in North Korea. This is a new McCarthyism that has expanded the boundaries of ‘woke’ to once unimaginable dimensions. It is chilling the free press and punishing truth‑tellers.”
What Jimmy Kimmel Said
During Kimmel’s monologue last Tuesday, he criticized attempts by some conservatives to distance the suspected shooter from the MAGA movement, saying, “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.”
In Orwellian fashion, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair Brendan Carr condemned the segment and suggested the FCC could pursue license revocation, prompting ABC affiliates owned by Nexstar to pre‑empt Kimmel’s show.
ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Nexstar’s broadcasting division president Andrew Alford claimed Kimmel’s comments were “offensive and insensitive” and said the pre‑emption would allow “cooler heads” to prevail. The move came despite indications that Kimmel planned to explain his remarks and make clear they were taken out of context.
A Wave of Firings
The suspension follows a broader purge of journalists who dared to contextualize Kirk’s divisive legacy. MSNBC fired analyst Matthew Dowd after he said that Kirk was a “divisive” figure who pushed “hate speech” and warned that “hateful thoughts lead to hateful words which lead to hateful actions”. Dowd apologized for his tone but stressed that he did not blame Kirk for the violence. MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler called his remarks “inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable”.
The Washington Post dismissed opinion columnist Karen Attiah after she criticized “performative mourning” for a man she said had espoused violence; her Bluesky posts argued that refusing to engage in excessive grief for Kirk was not the same as supporting violence.The Post’s termination letter accused Attiah of violating a social media policy prohibiting posts that disparage people based on race or gender. Attiah responded that she was fired for condemning political violence and pointing out racial double standards.
“It was unequivocally an American tragedy that Charlie Kirk was assassinated, and we must be clear to condemn all political violence,” remarked Besen. “But these journalists were punished not for celebrating violence but for insisting on honesty about Kirk’s record. This demonstrates how far the right‑wing Cancel Crusade has gone. It’s now taboo to note that hateful words have consequences or to refuse to canonize an extremist.”
Trump and Allies Call for Revenge
While media figures were being silenced, President Donald Trump escalated incendiary rhetoric. Before a suspect was taken into custody, Trump blamed the “radical left” for the shooting and told reporters, “We just have to beat the hell out of them”. In a separate exchange, he called left‑wing activists “radical left lunatics” and repeated that “we’re going to get that problem solved”.
Trump’s administration has gone further. On a podcast hosted by Vice President JD Vance, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller promised to use “every available resource” in the Department of Justice and Homeland Security to “identify, disrupt, dismantle and destroy” left‑wing networks, vowing that it would be done “in Charlie’s name”. Vance targeted philanthropic organizations such as the Open Society Foundations and the Ford Foundation, accusing them—without evidence—of funding articles critical of Kirk. Miller later said the administration was exploring ways to hold nonprofit entities criminally accountable for allegedly organizing attacks and supplying materials for riots.
Attorney General Pam Bondi added to the chorus. On a podcast hosted by Katie Miller, Bondi asserted that there is “free speech and then there’s hate speech, and there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society”.
However, there is no “hate speech” exception in the First Amendment and Bondi’s authoritarian remarks opened the door to prosecuting anyone whose speech displeases the administration. When asked about Bondi’s comments, Trump told an ABC News reporter, “We’ll probably go after people like you because you treat me so unfairly … Maybe they’ll come after ABC”.
A Call to Defend Free Speech
Truth Wins Out urged ABC to reinstate Kimmel and called on media organizations to resist intimidation. “We stand at one of the most dangerous moments in American history, where institutions are crumbling and truth‑tellers are targeted for retribution,” Besen warned. “The right always said they hated political correctness, but now they demand America lionize Charlie Kirk and punish those who refuse. If we allow this Cancel Crusade to continue, the United States will become a place where only state‑approved propaganda is permitted.”
TWO said it will work with allied organizations to defend free speech and support journalists and activists facing retaliation. “Our democracy depends on a robust, unflinching press that can call out extremism without fear,” Besen concluded. “We will not be intimidated into silence. The truth must win out.”
About Truth Wins Out
Truth Wins Out is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that works to advance liberty and democracy, protect the rights of LGBTQ people and other minorities, combat religious extremism, and fight against the spread of disinformation.
Media Contact:
Contact: Wayne Besen, Executive Director
Email: WBesen@truthwinsout.org
Website: www.TruthWinsOut.org
Amongst many outrages against common sense peddled by the MAGA movement is the claim that Kimmel offends decency by suggesting that the suspect in Kirk’s murder comes from the bosom of MAGA itself.
How can it be that President Trump can straight out accuse an unspecified number on the so-called ‘Radical Left’ of being behind Kirk’s death, but Kimmel can’t say that the actual suspect has a family background close to MAGA?