On September 15th, millions of Americans opened their phones to see the news that Jimmy Kimmel Live! Had been suspended “indefinitely.” 

Five days after the death of podcaster and right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel referenced President Trump’s reaction to Kirk’s death on Sept. 15. 

“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,” Kimmel said. 

He then showed Trump’s response to a reporter asking him how he was coping. Trump replied that he was doing “very good” before talking about creating a $200 million ballroom at the White House. Kimmel joked this showed the “sixth stage of grief: construction.”

The next day, Kimmel faced backlash on X, with Elon Musk calling him “disgusting” and Trump labeling his comments “horrible.” On Sept. 17, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, appointed by Trump, condemned Kimmel’s remarks and suggested possible repercussions for ABC, which airs “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

Later that day, Nexstar, which owns 32 ABC stations, announced it would pull Kimmel’s show in response to Carr’s criticism. Following this, Disney suspended Kimmel’s show, but reversed the decision a week later. Nexstar has since resumed airing Kimmel’s show.

U.S. government teacher Ken Tinsley said Disney and ABC’s decision to suspend the show reflected financial concerns more than moral ones.

“They value the fiduciary responsibility to their investors and the quarterly profits because they’re a business, not a charity,” Tinsley said. “The people they’re beholden to are the people who put money into their company who expect certain returns.”

Tinsley also said Disney’s suspension of Kimmel in response to FCC pressure infringed on Kimmel’s First Amendment rights, emphasizing the need for checks and balances from other branches of government. 

“When Trump is doing these things, if we’re talking about balancing power, it’s up to the other branches to check and balance,” Tinsley said.

Junior Mayu Altekar-Okazaki, news Editor for The Paly Voice, said Kimmel’s suspension was unacceptable. 

“It raises a lot of questions about First Amendment rights and the freedom of the press and freedom of speech,” Altekar-Okazaki said. 

This sentiment seems to have been shared by the 1.7 million people who canceled their Disney+ subscriptions within five days of Kimmel’s suspension.

The American Civil Liberties Union also condemned Disney’s actions in an open letter signed by more than 400 people in the entertainment industry, including Selena Gomez, Sarah Jessica Parker and Billie Eilish. 

And Tinsley said he struggled to see what was offensive about Kimmel’s monologue.  

“I was looking at the Jimmy Kimmel stuff, and personally, I could not find the thing that got him in trouble,” Tinsley said.

Altekar-Okazaki said Kimmel’s suspension, coming just two months after the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show,” also raises questions about the future of free press. 

“This trend brings up concerns over what will happen with the free press in the future — whether there will be more limitations, and how far these limitations will go,” Altekar-Okasaki said.

Still, senior Kensie Pao, Editor-in-Chief of Verde Magazine and Agora Magazine, said student journalism remains well-protected. 

“We do have very strong ed-codes around this topic, like Education Code 48907, which protects high school journalists,” Pao said.

Ed. Code 48907 is a California law that gives student journalists in California similar First Amendment protections to those in the professional media. Seventeen states have similar protections in place for student journalists. 

Journalism advisor Brian Wilson said understanding press freedoms is an essential part of journalism education.

“Thinking about the freedom of the press and the First Amendment is a really valuable part of your education and the larger journalism community at Paly,” Wilson said. “Students should be able to feel like they can say things in their stories that somebody might disagree with.”

Ultimately, Wilson said a free press is vital to civic discourse.

Wilson said, “As a publication advisor, I want this country, and the people who are a part of it, to protect the speech they don’t agree with as much as the speech they do agree with.”