SiriusXM’s Stephen A. Smith called out the left on “Straight Shooter” Wednesday for complaining about the free speech of liberal talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, but not that of conservatives.
ABC suspended Kimmel on Sept. 17 after Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcasting announced they would not air “Jimmy Kimmel Live” following the host’s Sept. 15 comments on the assassination of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk. While Smith agreed with criticism of the suspension, he suggested on his show that the left did not show the same concern for Daily Caller News Foundation co-founder Tucker Carlson when he and Fox News parted ways, nor when former President Joe Biden’s administration pushed to censor online speech.
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“Here’s the problem. Did we say that when Tucker Carlson was pulled off the air by Fox News? Did we say that? … Or would we say that if [Greg] Gutfeld was pulled off the air by Fox News? Government overreach, the Biden administration and what they were doing when it came to Facebook and X,” Smith said. “Were we as outspoken then as we were over the last few days? Because you see on this show, we’re talking consistency! This is why I call myself an independent! This is why I call myself a centrist!”
“Because what I want to do is I want to be able to look at you based on the facts and say you’re right or you’re wrong and that’s it!” he continued. “But when you’re able to point to the other side doing the same damn thing preceding you, by the way, and what you’re doing, then it becomes a bit more alarming because the word hypocrisy comes into play! And you’re able to look at it and say, ‘Yo, the other side did the same thing! So why are we engaging in partisanship here?’”
Alphabet disclosed in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee dated Sept. 23 that Biden administration officials repeatedly “pressed” it to remove content that did not breach company policy, but was deemed by the administration to be “misinformation.”
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also told podcast host Joe Rogan in January that officials in Biden’s administration would yell and hurl profanities at his company’s employees to censor content. Zuckerberg told Rogan that Meta faced investigations and backlash after Biden accused Facebook of “killing people” in July 2021 for not suppressing so-called COVID-19 misinformation.
Critics accused President Donald Trump’s administration of playing a role in Kimmel’s suspension since Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr threatened ABC over Kimmel’s monologue shortly before it was announced.
ABC reinstated Kimmel to his show on Tuesday. He did not issue an apology for his Sept. 15 monologue during his return episode.
Kimmel had celebrated the firing of Carlson in 2023, calling it a “delightful shock.”
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