Dem
47
GOP
53
More than a few commenters wrote that Jimmy Kimmel's monologue, for his first show back after being suspended, would be the most hotly anticipated monologue in late-night history. Though it's not too easy to knock Johnny Carson's final monologue off that throne, those commenters might have been correct.
If you did not see it—say, you live in an area where the local affiliates are owned by Sinclair or Nexstar—and you would like to, it is here:
Not unexpectedly, it was a longer monologue than usual. And it's fair to say that Kimmel lived up to the very high expectations that were placed upon him. At times, he was very emotional, particularly when he said he lamented the death of a young man who had his life in front of him. Several minutes later, Kimmel again teared up when he said how moved he was, as a practicing Christian, that Erika Kirk forgave her husband's killer.
There was also, as one would expect, an extended soapbox-y commentary on the First Amendment, and how it's important to protect free speech, even of those we disagree with. Kimmel thanked those who disagree with him but still stood up for him, in particular singling out Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). That is presumably the first, and last, time that Cruz will be thanked on that particular program.
The monologue also had a fair number of zingers at the expense of Donald Trump and his administration. The biggest laugh of the evening came when the show played a clip of Trump badmouthing Kimmel and, characteristically, sniffing that Kimmel doesn't get ratings. The shot then cut back to Kimmel, who said: "I will tonight." It brought down the house. Clearly, the host is not going to be cowed by Don Trump and his capo Brendan Carr.
The somewhat interesting question is: Did Kimmel apologize? If an apology must include the word "sorry," or some variant/synonym thereof, then the answer is "no." However, the host did make very clear that he never intended to make light of anyone's death, and that, again, he is heartbroken by what happened. Truth be told, it was considerably more compelling than many "I'm sorry" apologies, the ones that are obviously compulsory, and that are clearly not coming from the heart. One comment we saw is that Trump's eulogy for Kirk in Arizona could be compared to how a four-year-old mourns his dead goldfish.
As we note above, Sinclair and Nexstar affiliates did not air the show, as they are still boycotting Kimmel. That means that a lot of people in red states are cut off from the program, but so too are people in Washington, DC; Portland, OR; Seattle, WA and a host of other decidedly not-red places. If the leadership of those two companies wants to keep posturing, they could certainly say "We didn't hear 'I'm sorry'" and use that to justify a continuance of their current policy.
That said, the bigwigs at those two corporations might want to think carefully about making this their exit ramp, and determining that Kimmel has done enough to make amends. Certainly, there are some downsides for them if they keep holding out. The first of those is that they have some unhappy customers, not to mention late-night programming that is less profitable (and more expensive, since they have to license it themselves) than Kimmel's show. The second is that Sinclair, in particular, prefers to fly under the radar. The more they draw attention to the amount of control that a few rich, white guys in suits have over what people can and cannot see, the more uncomfortable things could become.
Third, and probably most important, affiliate contracts place a limit on how many times the affiliate can preempt network programming (for the obvious reason that the networks sell commercial time based on how many viewers they get nationwide). If Nexstar/Sinclair reach their limits (and they could do so very soon), then they could be at the mercy of ABC/Disney. Maybe ABC/Disney decides this is not a hill worth dying on, but... probably not, since cutting off 10-15% of potential viewers is not too good for the bottom line. Should ABC/Disney decide to lay down the law, the corporation would be within its rights to cancel the affiliate contracts, leaving Sinclair/Nexstar without programming for much of the day. And while those companies would not be sad to lose Kimmel's show, obviously, they would really hate to lose live sports, particularly Monday Night Football.
Moving along, Trump himself was apoplectic that Kimmel is back on the air (and so quickly). This is a clear loss for the President, and a reminder that even if he's willing to abuse his powers, he's really not that strong a strongman. After the episode aired in the eastern time zone, Trump got on his First-Amendment-for-me-but-not-for-thee social media platform, and sent out this delightful message:
I can't believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back. The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled! Something happened between then and now because his audience is GONE, and his "talent" was never there. Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who's not funny, and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE. He is yet another arm of the DNC and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major Illegal Campaign Contribution. I think we're going to test ABC out on this. Let's see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative. A true bunch of losers! Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad Ratings.
Surely there's a point where "Trump threatens/files yet another ridiculous lawsuit" fails to even move the needle, right? And maybe we're already at that point? Trump either does not think through the implications of his words, or he doesn't care, or both, but if presenting somewhat lefty 5-minute monologues four times a week constitutes an illegal campaign contribution, then we have some very, very bad news for the entertainers at Fox. In any event, Disney certainly knew that Trump would be angry, and that he'd think about another shakedown, and yet they put Kimmel back on the air. That suggests to us they are ready to tell the President to shove it, so he should think twice about whether he wants to try to bully them, at risk of getting a black eye.
Certainly, the Kimmel fiasco has done Trump no favors so far. Again, that Disney reversed itself so rapidly makes Trump look weak. There have already been polls, and they show that a large majority of voters (65%-70%) oppose what Trump tried to do. Podcaster Joe Rogan, who is something of a MAGA whisperer, also blasted Trump, saying that his attempt at censorship was "fu**ing crazy."
In short, all indications are that Trump should drop this, and move on. Of course, that is not what he's going to do. (Z)