In a whirlwind of political controversy, the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show, a late-night talk show, was suddenly suspended “indefinitely” last week, then just as suddenly restarted, airing again on Tuesday, September 23rd. The cancellation was evidently a response to the head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) appearing on a conservative commentator’s podcast and threatening the company that produces the show. (His threats went over so well that fellow Republicans were criticizing his comments as attacking free speech.) This sudden turnabout was undoubtedly due to the financial setbacks experience by the parent company… someone called Disney… as consumers took a stand, cancelling streaming subscriptions and vacations, apparently to the tune of several billion dollars lost in less than a week.
Until this week, I had never watched the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show. The entire concept is antithetical to my lifestyle… “late night” is something that I usually only experience at conventions, and I generally prefer to read news rather than watch it. Don’t get me wrong, I only altered half of that… I watched the episode on YouTube the morning after it aired. According to YouTube’s count, so have 15 million (and counting) other people, so I’d say it’s doing fairly well.
I almost feel bad for The Onion, faced with the outrageous reality that they’re competing with, and yet that same outrageous reality makes it easier for the late night comedians, including Jimmy Kimmel, to find easy targets. And with malfunctioning escalators (allegedly sabotage, rather than the reality of an emergency stop triggered by his own team) and teleprompter (again, run by his own team), you’d almost think this administration is trying to provide fodder for those late night shows.
What we saw was a successful boycott with a specific target – restoring the show – influencing a mega-corporation. Imagine what we could accomplish as a country if all of those consumers who have a strong opinion about free speech would vote.