I voted this week

Yep, I voted this week. I voted, my guy won, and last night he delivered his victory speech. At least that’s what it felt like.

I voted for free speech and Jimmy Kimmel’s right to speak by canceling my Disney+ subscription, as did thousands of other Americans. And we won. Kimmel was back on the air last night.

It felt so good to have had a way to voice my opinion, to register my strong objection to the FCC and President Trump and their ongoing efforts to silence any voice, any medium that says something Trump doesn’t like.

The Kimmel “campaign” had been headline news for a week, and last night CNN reported the early returns:

That came just after the show began and did not include the almost 70 stations (more than 20%) of ABC affiliates controlled by Nexstar and the Sinclair Broadcast Group. They knuckled under to the threats of FCC chair Brendan Carr because they have some big mergers pending.

If you missed it, here’s Kimmel’s entire monologue. Enjoy:

(If you prefer, you can read a transcript of the entire monologue. Either way, don’t miss one of my favorite jokes: Kimmel referenced Trump’s statement that his show had “no ratings,” and quipped, “Well, I do tonight.”)

For the record, this entire week-long furor stemmed from one Kimmel remark:

“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 and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

However you interpret that, the resulting national discussion about our Constitution’s First Amendment and the freedom of speech it guarantees was critically important and long overdue.

Thank you, Jimmy Kimmel, for standing up and taking the heat for all of us. You didn’t ask for this, but you endured it with courage and grace.