Jimmy Kimmel, free speech and the crackdown after Charlie Kirk’s death

In the week since Charlie Kirk’s death, public officials including Vice President JD Vance and Attorney General Pam Bondi have called for Kirk’s critics to face consequences. People seen as celebrating his killing online have lost their jobs or faced harassment.

That crackdown has extended to media figures, with ABC deciding to pull “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air “indefinitely” over Kirk commentary, shortly after Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr called out the show on a conservative podcast.

In response, public figures and elected officials on both sides of the aisle have voiced concerns about whether the government is encroaching on the First Amendment. Some conservatives are even quoting Kirk’s own words to advocate for the protection of free speech.

Host Colby Itkowitz sits down with Washington Post chief political correspondent Karen Tumulty and Dan Merica, co-anchor of The Post’s Early Brief politics newsletter, to unpack all the latest developments in the case against Kirk’s alleged shooter, the efforts to pursue Kirk’s critics and his upcoming memorial service.

If you like watching podcasts, you can also find this episode on YouTube.

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