BOISE, Idaho — The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of speech — but with limits. That’s something late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel learned this week.
On his show, Kimmel said: “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid that murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
After additional remarks criticizing how former President Donald Trump grieved Kirk’s death, ABC suspended Kimmel indefinitely.
Constitutional lawyer Jeff Beelaert of Givens Pursley Law said employees must be mindful of what they say at work. “It would be one thing for a comic like Jimmy Kimmel to stand on the steps of our state capitol and say exactly what he just said, no problem at all,” he said. “But he’s doing so in the context of his employment, and his employers can make employment decisions based on the things that he said.”
KBOI radio talk show host Nate Shelman, who often tackles controversial topics, was live on air when he learned of Kimmel’s suspension.
“We have a duty, a responsibility to talk about what’s going on out there, to have a take,” Shelman said. “I don’t know if he picked the wrong time to tell a joke on the back of an assassination. … I think there’s a lot of hurt, I think there’s a lot of anger.”
Jan Adams and Brian Lee, co-owners of the Comedy Lounge in Boise, said comedians regularly express strong views on stage.
“How many thousands of times have people laughed at things Kimmel has said, and now this one time he said something they didn’t like?” Adams said. “If we did that here — if one out of 200 jokes was one we didn’t like — and we didn’t book a comic back because of it, we’d be in dangerous territory. We wouldn’t have anyone left to book.”
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