Good morning and welcome and welcome to Denison Forum's daily article podcast. It's Friday,

September 19th, 2025. I'm Connor Jones, co-host of the Culture Brief podcast here at

Denison Forum, filling in for

Chris Elkins and narrating today's daily article authored by our senior editor for theology, Dr. Ryan

Denison. Jimmy Kimmel, host of Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, was suspended indefinitely in the wake of

falsely characterizing Charlie Kirk's killer as a member of the MAGA gang.

Kimmel made the comments around two minutes into his monologue on Monday's show as part of a larger condemnation of President Trump in his response to Kirk's death.

To be honest, after listening to what he said, the line was neither funny nor factual,

but I probably wouldn't have given a second thought except for the firestorm that followed.

You see, Kimmel had the poor judgment to make that statement at a time when both the Trump administration

and conservatives across the country were already on edge over the manner in which many, though far from most,

of those on the left responded to the shooting. As such, when Kimmel declared that

Tyler Robinson, the suspect charged with Kirk's murder, who was a member of the MAGA movement,

he became an easy target for the rights anger. The latest reports are that Kimmel planned to address

the controversy on Wednesday's show, but was not going to apologize. Instead, he was intent on

defending what he said as being grossly mischaracterized by a certain

group of people.

Given that 66 of ABC's roughly 200 affiliate stations were not planning to air the episode,

Disney decided to take the decision out of their hands.

Many of those who condemned Kimmel's suspension have characterized it as an

assault on his freedom of speech. However, this assessment demonstrates an important

misunderstanding of what the Constitution actually protects. The First Amendment states that

...