ABC's suspension of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel "isn't a First Amendment issue," U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, said Thursday.
That's because the First Amendment applies to conduct by government and not to private companies like ABC, Hageman, a lawyer, said on the Cowboy State Daily Show with Jake.
Kimmel made controversial comments about last week's assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University in Orem. Hageman was referring to those comments and ABC's decision to immediately take him off the air indefinitely.
“ … [W]hen you say something horrific and horrible about someone who was just assassinated, your employer might have consequences for you,” Hageman said. “That isn't a First Amendment issue. The First Amendment applies to the government, but I see that Jimmy Kimmel has suffered some consequences for some really bad things that he has said and the misinformation that he has spread.
“I'm not advocating for that, but what I am saying is that his employer has the right to make that decision.”
But some Democrats saw government retaliation at play, which they argued amounted to a First Amendment violation.
They noted Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendon Carr had threatened to take action against ABC’s license over the controversial comments, and that President Donald Trump has sued multiple media organizations over the past year including ABC.
Barrasso ‘Won’t Miss’ Kimmel
Carr, for his part, noted that the FCC does not regulate cable TV or streaming platforms, and therefore Kimmel has options to stay in the public eye. Carr noted that the airwaves, in contrast to cable and streaming, are a finite public resource, hence the licensing.
“We're on a cable show right now,” Carr said in a CNBC interview Thursday. “You don't have an FCC license. You don't have an obligation to serve the public interest. Podcasts don't either. Standup comedians, whether they're on lots of forms of communications, [don’t have the obligation], and Kimmel is free to do that” on such platforms.
“But if you have a broadcast TV license, that means that you have something that very few people have and you're excluding other people from having access to that valuable public resource. And it comes with an obligation to serve the public interest.”
U.S. Senate Republican Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming, asked by Cowboy State Daily about free speech specifically pertaining to Kimmel’s suspension, offered a quick retort.
“I didn’t watch his show, and I won’t miss it," he said.
Hageman On Kirk
Hageman, during her appearance Thursday on the Cowboy State Daily Show with Jake, noted she had spoken at major events held by Turning Point USA in Phoenix. Kirk was the founder and executive director of the group.
“Charlie was a friend of mine. I've known Charlie for quite a few years,” Hageman said. “He was a very kind person. … [One] of the things that I think people need to understand about Charlie, is his public persona was very much his private persona as well.
“He really was that kind of person that was probing and questioning and engaging, and he was always full of energy. He was someone who, whenever you saw him … you were his very best friend. … He was obviously a very loving husband and father.”
Continuing, she said Kirk “wasn't killed for the things that he said,” but rather, “for the things that people claim that he said.”
“He has the right to debate, and that's what he did. He went to college campuses, and he debated,” Hageman said. “He was respectful, but he had a position, and he had beliefs, and his beliefs were very mainstream. He wasn't radical, he wasn't extremist.”
Hageman said conservatives must not let Kirk’s assassination deter them from speaking about their values.
“What we need to really focus on is the fact that we're not going to be silenced,” Hageman said.
Lummis-Lankford Bill
U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis on Thursday announced she is sponsoring a bill to ensure free-speech rights on college campuses.
The Wyoming Republican’s announcement did not link the legislation to the Kirk killing. Cowboy State Daily asked Lummis’s staff about the timing.
“This was a bill that Senator Lummis had previously supported and believes strongly in,” Lummis spokesman Joe Jackson said. “It’s fair to say that this legislation is needed now more than ever — especially in light of what we saw last week in Utah on a college campus.”
Lummis sponsored the same bill in 2023.
Lummis’s bill, introduced with U.S. Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, aims to protect religious student organizations from discrimination on college campuses.
The legislation would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to ensure that public universities receiving federal funds cannot deny religious student groups the same rights and benefits granted to other campus organizations, according to statement from Lummis’s office.
“The First Amendment does not only apply to those we agree with,” Lummis said in the statement. “For too long, college campuses have drifted from being places of open debate, diverse ideas, and faith, instead isolating those who speak out about their conservative views and religious values.”
The bill has two-dozen co-sponsors, all Republicans, including U.S. Sens. Jim Risch and Mike Crapo, both of Idaho, plus Steve Daines of Montana, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Kevin Cramer of North Dakota.
Sean Barry can be reached at sean@cowboystatedaily.com.
