First Amerndment rights are protected for all Americans by the U.S. Constitution and that includes Jimmy Kimmel

Echo opinion letter published in the Maryland, Baltimore Sun newspaper :

Freedom of speech, meaning freedom from governmental regulation of ideas or interference in declaring those ideas, is a bedrock principle of constitutional democracy. 

Jimmy Kimmel’s suggestion that the killer of Charlie Kirk* was acting on behalf of the MAGA movement was stupid, thoughtless and wrong. However, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr’s ham-handed attempt to punish Kimmel for his careless remark was worse (“Kimmel’s suspension is the latest display of Trump’s growing power over the US media landscape,” Sept. 18).

And worst of all was ABC’s bending of its corporate knee to Carr and his master, Donald Trump, by indefinitely suspending Kimmel. What have we come to? Have we forgotten the moral foundation and express dictate of the First Amendment that many people consider the most important words in the Constitution? How would Carr respond if asked whether or not he agreed with this view of freedom of speech: “I may disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it?”

From Ben Rosenberg, in Baltimore Maryland

*Check out my own opinion about this subject on my substacks