ACLU Organizes Over 400 Hollywood Artists In An Attempt To Make Jimmy Kimmel A Free Speech Martyr

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has organized over 400 Hollywood artists to sign a letter attempting to make Jimmy Kimmel a free speech martyr after The Walt Disney Company indefinitely paused his show after he lied about Charlie Kirk’s assassin.

On last Monday night’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! show host Jimmy Kimmel lied to viewers about Kirk’s assassin claiming he was a MAGA activist. Kimmel said, “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.”

The assassin had already been identified as Tyler Robinson and Utah governor Spencer Cox noted, “There clearly was a leftist ideology with this assassin.” Additionally, he had revealed that Robinson’s roommate was his boyfriend who was transitioning from male to female, “We do know that the roommate that we originally talked about, we can confirm that that roommate is a boyfriend, who is transitioning from male to female. So we know that piece.”

Following the show, TV network owners Sinclair and Nexstar Media Group announced they would no longer run Jimmy Kimmel Live! on their ABC affiliated stations.

After this an ABC News spokesman announced that Kimmel’s show was being pre-empted or canceled. He said, “Jimmy Kimmel Live will be pre-empted indefinitely.”

The ACLU is now attempting to alter the facts about why Kimmel was pulled off and they have wrangled over 400 actors into their gambit. The organization boldly lies on its website announcing it has activated these actors saying, “Jimmy Kimmel was taken off the air after our government threatened a private company with retaliation for Kimmel’s remarks. This is a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation.”

It’s likely that the ACLU here is referring to statements made by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr who informed Benny Johnson that the FCC might take action against Disney for misleading the public. He said, “his is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

“They have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest,” he said. “The FCC could make a strong argument that this is sort of an intentional effort to mislead the American people about a very core fundamental fact, a very important matter.”

Additionally, he called on Disney to make change, “Disney needs to see some change here, but the individual licensed stations that are taking their content, it's time for them to step up and say this, you know, garbage to the extent that that's what comes down the pipe in the future isn't something that we think serves the needs of our local communities. But, but this sort of status quo is obviously not, not acceptable where we are."

This is all under the purview of the FCC and its Broadcast hoaxes. It states:

No licensee or permittee of any broadcast station shall broadcast false information concerning a crime or a catastrophe if:

(1) The licensee knows this information is false;

(2) It is foreseeable that broadcast of the information will cause substantial public harm, and

(3) Broadcast of the information does in fact directly cause substantial public harm.

Nevertheless, the ACLU then declared, “This is unconstitutional and un-American. The government is threatening private companies and individuals that the President disagrees with. We can’t let this threat to our freedom of speech go unanswered.”

From there, the activist organization shared its letter that states:

We the people must never accept government threats to our freedom of speech. Efforts by leaders to pressure artists, journalists, and companies with retaliation for their speech strike at the heart of what it means to live in a free country.”

Last week, Jimmy Kimmel was taken off the air after the government threatened a private company with retaliation, marking a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation. In an attempt to silence its critics, our government has resorted to threatening the livelihoods of journalists, talk show hosts, artists, creatives, and entertainers across the board. This runs counter to the values our nation was built upon, and our Constitution guarantees.

We know this moment is bigger than us and our industry. Teachers, government employees, law firms, researchers, universities, students and so many more are also facing direct attacks on their freedom of expression.

Regardless of our political affiliation, or whether we engage in politics or not, we all love our country. We also share the belief that our voices should never be silenced by those in power – because if it happens to one of us, it happens to all of us.

This is the moment to defend free speech across our nation. We encourage all Americans to join us, along with the ACLU, in the fight to defend and preserve our constitutionally protected rights.

The letter has been signed by over 400 actors, directors, and producers including Debra Messing, Zooey Deschanel, Zazie Beetz, Wil Wheaton, Natalie Portman, Tom Hanks, Sharon Stone, Selena Gomez, Sarah Paulson, Maya Rudolph, Jamie Lee Curtis, Melissa Benoist, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Martin Short, Lena Dunham, Gloria Steinem, George Takei, Al Yankovic, Ben Stiller, Billy Crystal, Christina Applegate, Diego Luna, Elizabeth Banks, Gabriel Luna, Jane Fonda, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Aniston, Jon Cryer, Judd Apatow, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Laura Benanti, Kyra Sedgwick, Kumail Nanjiani, Kevin Bacon, Kristen Dunst, Regina Hall, Regina King, Robert DeNiro, Rosario Dawson, and more.

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