As the Left Whines About Kimmel, Don't Forget How the Media Cheered Censorship, Especially During COVID

While the Left continues to clutch pearls and rend their garments over Jimmy Kimmel's indefinite suspension from ABC, there was a time in the not-too-distant past when Democrats and their media allies cheered for and demanded censorship.

This thread is long, so we'll highlight the biggest offenders.

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The outrage over Kimmel’s canning is incredibly stupid, but it’s also enormously rich coming from the same media outlets who have cheered the government actually censoring people, particularly during COVID.

Let me know if you can spot the difference in tone? ⤵️
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2025

Let's start with CNN.

This @CNN headline made me think this story needed a thread.

Kimmel’s suspension is “straight from a European strongman’s playbook,” per @CNN’s @brianstelter.

When Biden cracked down on free speech during Covid, CNN hyped up the effort. pic.twitter.com/c4I5lbHUIU
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2025

It's (D)ifferent when they do it.

As CNN explained at the time:

The WHO defines an infodemic as “an overabundance of information — some accurate and some not — that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it.” The problem is aided by the ease and speed with which false or misleading information can spread on social media.
...
In an effort to help people sort through the sometimes overwhelming amount of information online, Kuzmanovic said the organization is working directly with social media companies to ensure users are directed to trusted sources. Now, when social media users on a number of platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, search for “coronavirus,” they are directed first to information from either the WHO, the Centers for Disease Control or their national health ministry.
The WHO is also working to produce information in a range of languages as the outbreak spreads around the world.
But as digital misinformation campaigns become increasingly sophisticated, the WHO and other world health officials should be doing more, said Seema Yasmin, director of the Stanford Health Communication Initiative and a former officer with the Centers for Disease Control’s Epidemic Intelligence Service.

In the X post, Stelter bragged, "This just in from Facebook: "From April through June, we removed over 7 million pieces of harmful COVID-19 misinformation from Facebook and Instagram." For example, posts about fake preventative measures. Fact-check labels were placed on another 98 million pieces of Covid misinfo."

And that’s even before you talk about @brianstelter’s campaign to censor Fox News. (H/t @tomselliott).

How is this not censorship? https://t.co/uKbB7IWR96
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2025

When advocating for the censorship of Fox News, Stelter said, "Reducing a liar’s reach is not the same as censoring freedom of speech; freedom of speech is different than freedom of reach."

That also applies to Jimmy Kimmel.

Kimmel getting the boot is government “censoring you in real time,” but when the government actually does censor you in real time, a court pushing back is “a weaponization of the courts.”

Okay, @guardian pic.twitter.com/hmMZ1GGEsF
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2025

It's (D)ifferent when they do it.

And as others have pointed out, there’s plenty of hypocrisy here otherwise. @RepJeffries urged Fox to muzzle or cut ties with Tucker Carlson over disinformation.

Now, he’s incensed that Kimmel got the boot. (H/t @greg_price11) pic.twitter.com/Jl3wHPLeZA
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2025

Of course he did.

And of course his co-signer @SenSchumer did the same. pic.twitter.com/rL2kb6YfGt
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2025

We told you about Schumer's "outrage" yesterday.

As FCC Chair Brendan Carr said, the decision to remove Kimmel from the air had nothing to do with the FCC and everything to do with local stations deciding not to affiliate with the likes of Kimmel any longer. On top of that, it's been reported that ABC execs wanted Kimmel to apologize for his remarks about Charlie Kirk and Kimmel refused, instead vowing to double down in an anti-MAGA opening monologue.

Editor's Note: The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie about President Trump, his administration, and conservatives.

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