Editor’s Note  (Monday, Sept. 22): Much of this column was written immediately following the suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Disney has since announced that the show will return to air on Tuesday, which was before press time.

This past Thursday marked a special day in my young career, as I hit one year of holding the managing editor position at The Covington News.

There are many reasons in which I’m grateful to hold this seat. Obviously, above all it’s being able to serve you, the readers. I’d say a close second on that list is the ability to exercise my First Amendment rights, particularly that of freedom of the press.

So you can only imagine my level of disgust of what took place last week regarding the temporary suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on ABC.

On Sept. 17, it was announced that the long-standing comedy show would be taken off the air “for the foreseeable future” after ABC-affiliated stations said they were pulling the show due to comments made about political activist Charlie Kirk. The show had also come under criticism by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr.

Now before I get into my song and dance here, I just want to come out and say that I wholeheartedly condemn the assassination of Charlie Kirk. There aren’t a lot of good things I have to say about the man, but no one, and I mean absolutely no one, should face violence – much less a public execution – for the views they believe in.

I also want to condemn those that are celebrating the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Many people, mostly those on the left, considered this assassination to be a good thing. To that I ask, whatever happened to humanity?

If you felt any sense of satisfaction over a man getting brutally assassinated over his beliefs, then there’s some deeper issues on the surface. But, I digress.

There’s no doubt that Kirk’s assassination has been a sensitive talking point throughout the country. But these particular Kimmel comments seemed to draw the most public flack from conservatives. 

These comments must’ve been some heinous stuff, right? I’ll let you decide for yourself.

KIMMEL: 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. In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving. On Friday, the White House flew the flag at half-staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level, you can see how hard the president [Donald Trump] was taking this.

*cut to clip*

REPORTER: My condolences on the loss of your friend Charlie Kirk. May I ask sir, personally, how are you holding up over the last day and a half?

TRUMP: I think very good. And by the way, you see all the trucks? We just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House. Which is something they’ve been trying to get done as you know for about 150 years, and it’s gonna be a beauty.

*cut back to Kimmel*

KIMMEL: Yes. He’s at the fourth stage of grief: construction. Demolition. Destruction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.

As you can see, it’s abundantly clear that Kimmel wasn’t mocking Kirk, but rather President Trump. Mocking Trump isn’t anything new on Kimmel’s show, as he did this on almost every show (for better or for worse).

But in response to this one minute of dialogue, Carr gave ABC an ultimatum.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.

Hours after these comments… *poof* Kimmel was pulled.

The sad part about this is, I don’t think these specific comments made by Kimmel were the reason his show was suspended. 

Remember when Stephen Colbert’s show got canned because of “declining ratings?” Here’s what Trump had to say on Truth Social after this.

“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” Trump said on July 18. “His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!”

To me, there’s every reason to believe this was calculated. Trump openly plotted for Kimmel’s removal two months ago and, unfortunately, used the tragic death of Kirk to make these wishes possible. 

It’s the ultimate revenge game against those who have used their massive platforms to speak out against them for years. Don’t believe me? Here’s what he said on Air Force One shortly following ABC’s decision to remove Kimmel.

"All they do is hit Trump," Trump said. "They're licensed. They're not allowed to do that."

Actually, Mr. President, they can do that. Or so, at least that’s what the Constitution suggests.

But as we all know, Trump is in an ongoing battle with the First Amendment. Only now has it gotten so bad that there is government influence on the status of what you’re able to consume. 

That, folks, is the whole issue of this. 

The issue isn’t whether or not you find Jimmy Kimmel to be funny. It also isn’t whether or not you found his comments last week to be tasteless. Both of those things are rightfully up for debate.

It’s the government censoring the media over things they don’t like.

Want to know a secret? The late-night TV show I’ve watched the most this year isn’t Kimmel or Colbert. It’s actually been “Gutfeld” on Fox News. I know that’s probably a shocker to most, but I actually find Greg Gutfeld to be quite hilarious. 

Gutfeld constantly attacks politicians on the left and has made some borderline tasteless comments over the years. Imagine if the FCC under a Democratic administration pulled him off the air? Or how about any other conservative-based show? It’d be absolutely outrageous.

Instead, that’s not what happened, because such a thing was unprecedented up until last week.

But now this has turned into something that’s expanded into a bipartisan issue. Kudos to right-wing members like Rand Paul, Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and even Ted Cruz for realizing government interference in the media is a bad thing. Kudos to everyone else with some sort of sense that’s realizing what’s happening here.

Shame on President Trump, Brendan Carr and those who are behind this. The shame should be equally spread to the ABC-affiliates who have caved into this, simply for the financial factors that are involved. That’s a whole different column for another day. 

I truly hope that when this presidential term is all said and done, our First Amendment rights will still be upheld. But with each passing day, I worry that it won’t be.

Evan Newton is the managing editor of The Covington News. He can be reached at enewton@covnews.com.