Open Markets Executive Director Barry Lynn Responds to Disney ABC’s Decision to Pull Kimmel

“The time has come for every American who believes in liberty to recognize the role played by the concentration of monopoly power and control in the hands of a few private communications platforms.”

Open Markets Executive Director Barry Lynn today responded to news that Disney's ABC is indefinitely pulling down “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The announcement comes just weeks after Paramount Skydance (CBS) cancelled “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” under similar pressure from the Trump administration:

“FCC Chair Carr just kicked the Trump Administration’s campaign against American liberty into overdrive. Until now, the Trump team made most threats against journalists and entertainers behind the curtain. But Chair Carr delivered his demand that Disney cancel Jimmy Kimmel in broad klieglight. This was no mistake. It was a show designed to force every American to fall into line behind their leader.  

The good news thus far is that many more political leaders, entertainers, journalists, and other Americans are standing up this time. But this can’t be a one-off moment of outrage. We have to see this fight through to the end. That means immediately opposing any and every threat against our freedoms of speech, inquiry, debate, day after day until we prevail. When Chair Carr told Disney that “we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” the message was meant for every news and entertainment company in the nation. 

It also means honestly facing up to the ultimate source of today’s dangers. The time has come for every American who believes in liberty to recognize the role played by the concentration of monopoly power and control in the hands of a few private communications platforms. A generation ago news and entertainment in America was distributed across thousands of printing presses and broadcast towers. Today it is all chokepointed on a few platforms and vast conglomerates, which in turn makes it much easier for the government to exert direct control. 

And it means understanding this is not an attack only on liberals, progressives, and Democrats. Chair Carr’s threat to Disney is an attack on every American. Be you Republican, Independent, conservative, or libertarian, Carr did not act on your behalf but rather against the system that for 250 years has protected you, your family, your community, and your church. The original lesson of America is simple –  freedom for all means freedom for all.”

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