M. Gessen on New York Times Opinion Video: “Jimmy Kimmel and the Rise of Corporate Censorship”
Distinguished Visiting Writer M. Gessen. Still from New York Times Opinion Video
Drawing comparisons to Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension and the cancellation of the Russian show Куклы (Puppets) in 2002 by Vladimir Putin, M. Gessen, distinguished visiting writer at Bard College, spoke about the power of satire to deflate authoritarian imagery. “That’s the real power of comedians in an autocracy, is that they reduce the tyrant to human size, or even to less than human size,” Gessen says. The speed with which ABC, Nexstar, and Sinclair removed Jimmy Kimmel Live! from the air suggests that “we’re really in a new situation.” “We’re in a situation where network executives are perceiving the presidential administration not as something that they criticize, but as a place from which they take orders, or at least receive signals that should inform their actions.”
Post Date: 09-23-2025
Post Date: 09-23-2025