I agree with your premise that comedy and political commentary are so diffuse and age-categorized that Kimmel’s ouster is low impact, but it begs the question: What’s the big deal? If Kimmel is so irrelevant why should the President weigh in on it at all? Why would the FCC care? Why would there be billion dollar deals hinging on Kimmel’s firing? As seems to be the case? If we have truly arrived at the age of terminal apathy, why pay attention to anything at all? In that case Charlie Kirk died by unintentional suicide. He got killed for trying to be relevant. A guy just trying to make a buck from what the young gun in Cold Mountain called “the confidence of youth.”
Trump is incredibly petty and loves a grudge. He’s still beefing with Rosie O’Donnell after all these years. I think Disney wanted to get rid of Kimmel anyway and they took an opportunity to save a bunch of money and curry favor with the administration at the same time. It’s not great, but also not as sinister as some people are making it out to be.
Kirk operated in a high impact medium (video and social platforms) and was also a boots on the ground organizer. Definitely more consequential than a late night host.
I agree with your premise that comedy and political commentary are so diffuse and age-categorized that Kimmel’s ouster is low impact, but it begs the question: What’s the big deal? If Kimmel is so irrelevant why should the President weigh in on it at all? Why would the FCC care? Why would there be billion dollar deals hinging on Kimmel’s firing? As seems to be the case? If we have truly arrived at the age of terminal apathy, why pay attention to anything at all? In that case Charlie Kirk died by unintentional suicide. He got killed for trying to be relevant. A guy just trying to make a buck from what the young gun in Cold Mountain called “the confidence of youth.”
Trump is incredibly petty and loves a grudge. He’s still beefing with Rosie O’Donnell after all these years. I think Disney wanted to get rid of Kimmel anyway and they took an opportunity to save a bunch of money and curry favor with the administration at the same time. It’s not great, but also not as sinister as some people are making it out to be.
Kirk operated in a high impact medium (video and social platforms) and was also a boots on the ground organizer. Definitely more consequential than a late night host.