When I heard that Charlie Kirk was shot dead, I was stunned. Regardless of one’s view of him, this sudden violence feels like an assault on civic discourse.
I was born in 1993, so 9/11 was a defining national shock, but for those who lived through it, Kirk’s assassination could feel closer to the killing of President JFK in 1963, when a political leader was taken suddenly and violently in front of the nation. I was never Kirk’s greatest fan, I often found his rhetoric divisive, but that doesn’t change this: no one deserves to be assassinated. Thankfully, Tyler Robinson has been arrested and charged with aggravated murder (which does carry the death penalty or a mandatory term of imprisonment), obstruction of justice for moving and hiding the gun believed to be used in the Charlie Kirk assassination and felony discharge of a firearm causing bodily injury.
In the wake of Kirk’s killing, Jimmy Kimmel late night talk show host opened his show with this, “Thank you for joining us from Los Angeles, the second-largest city in our bitterly divided nation, where, like the rest of the country, we’re still trying to wrap our heads around the senseless murder of the popular podcaster and conservative activist Charlie Kirk yesterday, whose death has amplified our anger, our differences,” Kimmel said. “I’ve seen a lot of extraordinarily vile responses to this from both sides of the political spectrum. Some people are cheering this, which is something I won’t ever understand.”
As a strong believer of the First Amendment, I believe that he has every right to say how he was feeling. To be honest, he has said much worse about President Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong-Un. It seems interesting that this is the straw that broke the camel’s back.
I would like to note that Kimmel did post on Instagram, “Instead of the angry finger pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human? On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents, and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.”
After these remarks, several affiliates of ABC dropped Kimmel’s show. When that happened, ABC, which is owned by Disney, suspended Kimmel. As of recently, ABC said they put the late night show back on the air.
The only thing is that most ABC affiliates are owned by two companies, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Nexstar Media Group. In fact, the Amarillo ABC affiliate is owned by Sinclair, and the Lubbock affiliate is owned by Nexstar. I have reached out to both and have received word that on Sept. 23 they will watch the monologue and decide if they would like to go forward. Since I was not able to watch the episode via the local station on Sept. 23, I watched it via Youtube on Sept. 24. Kimmel seems to be very thankful for the opportunity to be back on air.
It raises the question: where do we draw the line on our First Amendment rights, and have corporations finally crossed it?
