The desire to not catch a (arguably deserved in some individual cases) bullet is an incredibly unifying sentiment on both sides of the isle and between the elected officials, the permanent bureaucracy and those aspiring to be either.

It just baffles me that people think they can say things that "turn up the heat" or "endorse the furtherance of current trends" and not expect some part of system (including big companies that more or less operate at the pleasure of regulators/government) to turn right back around and attack them.

I'm not saying I expect everyone to be as jaded as me, but know where your pay comes from.

Edit: Looks like Kimmel didn't say anything specific endorsing it and my last sentence was accurate more than I wanted it to be.

Call me old fashioned, but I do expect for things like this not to happen in an open, democratic society whose founding document explicitly declares free speech to be sacrosanct.

Update: "things like this" is meant to refer to the act of suspending Kimmel's show in response to the specific, rather innocuous, comments he made in his monologue

Kimmel didn’t even criticise Kirk. He’s a mainstream TV comedian and nothing he said “turned up the heat”.

The reality is very simple: Nexstar wants federal approval for a merger. They know engaging in this censorship increases the likelihood of their merger being approved. So you’re exactly as jaded as you should be, just with the wrong target.

> It just baffles me that people think they can say things that "turn up the heat"

I don't think that's an accurate characterization of his statements, even if what he did say was factually inaccurate.

The FCC doesn’t pay Kimmel.