Here we go again.
The wailing about ZOMG AN ATTACK ON FREE SPEECH is at peak volume (“These go to eleven”) again. Much like global warming, it’s not really happening. I addressed the mundane and practical reasons for Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension in Thursday’s Morning Briefing, and in my latest “Beyond the Briefing” video. As I wrote in the promo post for the latter, it was a routine workplace decision. Elizabeth MacDonald posted this on X about an hour after I wrote that (click and read the whole thing):
NEWS Disney’s CEO Bob Iger and co-chair Dana Walden made the decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s show after he planned to double down and go on camera to defend his lie that MAGA voters killed Charlie Kirk rather than “kowtow” to the outrage, Hollywood Reporter reports. They… pic.twitter.com/y96UQa8O8n
— Elizabeth MacDonald (@LizMacDonaldFOX) September 19, 2025
Like I said, just business. Dem elites can’t understand that because so many of them are politicians, academics, or mainstream media lap dogs.
What I want to focus on in this column is the cultural and media journey that led to Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert becoming overweening, faux intellectual blowhards who felt that they should act like political sherpas for their incurious audiences. That story begins with Jon Stewart and his rise to prominence on The Daily Show.
Several months ago, I read an article by John Mac Ghlionn titled, “Never Forget What Jon Stewart Did To America” over at The American Spectator, the venerable site that I wrote for before finding a home here at the Townhall Media Mothership. You get the gist of the thing from the title. Here’s the part that really stuck with me:
Even his comedy, once hailed as clever, incisive, “for the thinking man,” was always marinated in elite arrogance. Stewart didn’t just poke fun at politicians. He mocked belief. Mocked faith. Mocked patriotism. Mocked the very idea that tradition might be worth taking seriously. To him, these weren’t pillars of a shared culture — they were punchlines. Red meat for Manhattan elites.
And it worked. For a time. Stewart’s smirk became the face of smart liberalism. He gave a generation permission to roll their eyes at anything that smelled vaguely of God, country, or duty. His jabs didn’t just reflect progressive sensibilities — they sharpened them into weapons. Into blinders. Into a worldview where irony replaced inquiry, and anyone with a flag pin was automatically a joke. He helped solidify a distrust in middle America, fostering a culture of ridicule and sanctimony disguised as satire. That’s his legacy. He didn’t just host The Daily Show. He helped write the script for the very political dysfunction he now claims to diagnose.
Kimmel and Colbert are, quite obviously, the spawn of this legacy. Colbert is a Daily Show alum, of course. It may seem impossible, but they took Stewart’s performative mugging for the camera and dumbed it down for an already low-info base. They’ve both killed more brain cells on the Left in their tenures as late-night hosts than drugs or alcohol did in the same time period.
Throughout his career, Stewart will occasionally come up with something that conservatives can applaud. I never bought any of it. I think that’s all done to give him something to point to whenever he’s accused of ignorant bias. Kimmel and Colbert don’t have any of those moments. They behave like automatons that are sent forth each night from the Democratic National Committee.
Young people on the Left have for years been looking at the likes of Stewart, Kimmel, and Colbert as legitimate sources of political news and information. Kimmel and Colbert relish that role. That’s why there is an endless parade of Democrats who are running for office as guests on their shows every election season. They are proud of being big time Dem influencers and shapers of opinion.
Now that they are being held accountable for what they say in that role, both want to hide behind the “I’m just a comedian” nonsense.
The permanently emotionally incontinent progs can say that President Trump was behind Colbert’s cancellation and Kimmel’s suspension all they want and it will never be true. Once more, with feeling: late-night is a dying network television genre. Heck, network television might not be around in 15 years. If the politics of Kimmel and Colbert came into play at all, it was only to hasten business decisions that were going to be made anyway.
Kimmel has only been suspended, so he might be back. However, the telling line from The Hollywood Reporter was, “the advertiser calls began to roll in.” If the people who pay the bills remain unhappy, Kimmel’s indefinite suspension will become definite. If their memories are short and ABC puts him back on the air, they’ll soon be heading down this road again.
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