Son Of Toby Keith Says Jimmy Kimmel’s Show Shouldn’t Have Been Pulled: “He’s Said Much Worse”

Not a fan…but still doesn’t think his show should have been canceled.

For the past couple of days, it seems like everybody has been up in arms – on one side or the other – over the news that Jimmy Kimmel’s late night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, has been suspended indefinitely after comments the “comedian” made on the assassination of conservative media personality Charlie Kirk.

During his show on Monday, Kimmel seemed to imply without evidence that the shooter was right-wing or “MAGA.”

“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.”

Now, from everything we know about the shooter, who has been identified as 22-year old Tyler Robinson, he was left-leaning and had made comments calling Kirk “full of hate.” He was also reportedly in a relationship with his transgender roommate, so he doesn’t exactly sound like your typical Trump supporter.

But you know how it goes when these things happen: Everybody rushes to try to accuse the shooter of being on the other side, regardless of what the evidence actually shows, which seems to be exactly what Kimmel did.

Well his comments not only landed Kimmel criticism online, but they also caught the attention of FCC chair Brendan Carr, who called Kimmel’s comments “truly sick” and said there was a “strong case” for action against ABC and parent company, Disney.

“This 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.”

And it didn’t take long for companies to take action. Nexstar Media Group, the largest television station owner in the country (which also happens to be seeking government approval for a merger with another broadcast company, Tegna) announced on Wednesday that their ABC affiliates would be pulling Kimmel from its lineup:

“Nexstar strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets.”

Andrew Alford, the president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, also called Kimmel’s comments offensive and not reflective of the company, while saying that continuing to give Kimmel a platform is “not in the public interest.”

“Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located.

Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue.”

And Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest owner of ABC affiliates in the country, also announced that they would be pulling Kimmel’s show indefinitely from their stations – and this Friday, will replace it with a tribute to Charlie Kirk instead:

“Sinclair’s ABC stations will air a special in remembrance of Charlie Kirk this Friday, during Jimmy Kimmel Live’s timeslot. The special will also air across all Sinclair stations this weekend. In addition, Sinclair is offering the special to all ABC affiliates across the country.”

The company said they would not lift Kimmel’s suspension “until formal discussions are held with ABC regarding the network’s commitment to professionalism and accountability,” and urged Kimmel to issue a formal apology to the Kirk family.

In the wake of the two broadcasters pulling Kimmel’s show, ABC has suspended production of the late night talk show, while the move has ignited a firestorm and caused plenty of debate over free speech and government censorship.

Of course which side you’re on in the debate probably depends largely on which side of the aisle you fall on politically. But in the wake of the suspension, the son of Toby Keith took to social media to reveal his much more nuanced take on the subject.

Stelen Covel, the youngest child and only son of the country music legend, took to Instagram yesterday, first with a post on his story mocking Kimmel:

“They love when they get to bully and [play] the victim… It’s also funny to me that he got fired by Disney which is like the single most liberal Fortune 500.”

But despite the fact that he’s not a fan of Kimmel, he also didn’t agree that he should be fired:

“For what it’s worth, Not a fan of Kimmel – but I think what Kimmel said probably didn’t warrant a firing. He’s said much worse. Companies like Disney make safe decisions like this all the time. Likely just a business decision to save money from Bob [Iger].

He will do a show on Netflix or Hulu or a podcast or some other slop and make the same money.”

And honestly, I tend to agree with Stelen. I’m not really shedding any tears over Kimmel being off the air (not like I watched him anyway…but judging by the ratings not many people did), but I also don’t really like the government stepping in and pressuring companies to take down speech that they don’t agree with. And I get that it’s more than just something political: Calling the shooter “MAGA” was just flat out wrong and misleading. But generally, I’m in favor of the market working these things out and not the government.

Just my two cents, not that anyone really cares.The post Son Of Toby Keith Says Jimmy Kimmel’s Show Shouldn’t Have Been Pulled: “He’s Said Much Worse” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.