Protesters and lawmakers took to the News 8 WTNH station in New Haven to protest the decision of WTNH’s parent company, Nexstar, to preempt airings of Jimmy Kimmel, even after ABC and Disney brought him back from a highly publicized suspension.
“Since the beginning of our country, our founding fathers, the Framers of our Constitution, recognize that the government should not be in the business of telling media outlets what they are and are not allowed to say,” said Sen. Matt Lesser (D-Cromwell), Deputy Democratic Leader.
Other speakers included Rep. Kaitlyn Shake (D-Stratford), Eli Saban, New Haven’s Ward 7 Alderman, Gemeem Davis, Vice President of Bridgeport Generation Now, and Liz Dupont-Diehl, Vice President of Connecticut Citizens Action Group, which organized the event “on a dime.” Both Dupont-Diehl and Davis emphasized that the protest was not just about Kimmel, but about the issue of censorship in general.
“We started organizing this I think yesterday,” said Dupont-Diehl. “Free speech, this is the tip of the spear, and this is about a lot more than Jimmy Kimmel. Jimmy Kimmel’s OK, but you know, we don’t need corporations bowing to the federal government’s lawlessness and trying to tell us what we can and cannot see.”
The group of a little over a dozen protesters carried anti-censorship signs and belted chants supporting free speech and shaming Nexstar’s executives. Though the group was small in number, they were encouraged by the frequent horn-honks of passing cars. One protestor and impromptu speaker, Gaye Hyre, said that her ancestors ran from countries without free speech and that nobody should stand for its weakening in the United States.
“My great grandmother used to say, no matter how lousy it got here, she would always say, ‘Darling, remember, it could always be worse, we could be in Russia,’” said Hyre. “She meant it, and she knew what she was talking about; trust me, nobody here wants that.”
Nexstar, which owns over 200 TV stations across the country and is Connecticut’s ABC-affiliate station for the New Haven and Hartford-areas, decided not to air Kimmel’s return to television this week. Kimmel was suspended on Sept. 17 by Disney and ABC executives for comments he made regarding what he viewed as the politicization of Charlie Kirk’s death by conservatives, but had his suspension revoked on Sept. 22. Despite this revocation, the approximately 1,060,910 households in Nexstar’s Connecticut audience were unable to view his return to air on Tuesday on their channels.
“When ABC decided that they wanted to air Jimmy Kimmel, Nexstar is still bowing to pressure from the Trump administration, still showing that they are the hired hands of Commissioner Carr,” said Lesser.
Lesser acknowledged comments made by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who prior to Kimmel’s suspension publicly called for companies to “take action on Kimmel,” or risk “additional actions by the FCC ahead.” Lesser called his comments “bold-faced threats,” “ridiculous,” and “an abuse of the First Amendment.”
“He publicly ordered Nexstar to fire Jimmy Kimmel,” said Lesser. “In the 230-something-year history of the First Amendment, no administration has ever ordered someone to be fired because we didn’t like what they had to say.”
Lesser also brought up the fact that Nexstar is currently awaiting approval by the FCC for a merger, which would see it purchase TEGNA, the owner of WTIC Fox 61 in Hartford, for $6.2 billion. Lesser said that doing so would violate the FCC’s local duopoly rule, which stipulates that a media company can only own two stations in a single media market. Lesser highlighted a letter he sent to Attorney General William Tong last Friday, asking him to investigate whether or not such a merger would violate Connecticut’s Anti-Trust Statutes, saying he has, “a lot of concerns” regarding the merger, and that it, “really warrants additional scrutiny.”
“Concentration of media ownership is a problem, and if Nexstar is going to buckle to Brendan Carr on this issue, and then they’re able to dominate the Hartford-New Haven region media market; what’s the next issue they’re going to buckle on?” asked Lesser. “What is the next issue they’re going to sell us out to on orders from the White House, or on orders from the SEC?”
Lesser told Inside Investigator that thus far, he doesn’t know of any talks regarding legislation that would address the issue, but that he “would not be surprised” if Tong re-introduces HB 7072, which would strengthen the AG’s ability to enforce the state’s Anti-Trust Statutes.
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Hypocritical clowns. Where were they the prior 4 years when conservatives were censored and shadow-banned in huge numbers? They are “trying to tell us what we can and cannot see?” Conservative voices are completely kept off these late night network shows, on the supposed public airwaves. These ten protesters need to get out of their cocoons and find a cure for their derangement.